LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



OOODTbTlbEt) 



! - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 



# 



#| 

} UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. { 



# 
# 



\ 



A FAMILY TOUR 

ROUND THE 

COASTS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 



A FAMILY TOUR 



ROUND THE 



COASTS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 



DURING THE WINTER OF 1860-1861 



LADY "f)UNBAR 



OF NORTHFIELD 



1867 



WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 

.P EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
MDCCCLXII 



# 



ADYEETISEMENT. 



The solicitations of some kind friends, and a wish 
to realise a few pounds for a charitable purpose, 
have induced the Authoress to publish the follow- 
ing Journal. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

French hotels— Nismes and its antiquities — A Spanish diligence 
— First glimpses of Spain— Execrable roads — An overturn— 
A night at a railway station — Barcelona — Bad drainage — De- 
ficient accommodation — The cathedral — Spanish currency — 
Spanish and English fashions — Spanish lace —A Spanish bap- 
tism — Adventure with banditti — Scenery round Barcelona — 
Manresa — A Spanish posada — Monserrat and the monastery- 
Ascent of the mountain — A Catalan landlord — Night accom- 
modation — Martorel — Ancient bridge, . . .1-26 



CHAPTER II. 

Routes to Valencia — A Spanish steamer — Arrival at Valencia — 
Churches and pictures — Church ceremonies — Cigar factory — 
The workwomen — Peasant costumes — Silk factory — The great 
hospital — Foundling hospital — Plaza de Toros — The fashion of 
Valencia — The scenery — Arrival at Alicante— Alicante — Love 
and jealousy — The date palm— The peasantry — The knife and 
its use — Soil and climate, . . . . . 27-48 

CHAPTER III. 

Voyage to Malaga — Malaga — Hotels and accommodation — Light 
costumes — Scenery of the vicinity — Costumes of peasantry — 
The cathedral — Spanish sermons — Spanish justice — The bri- 
gand's fate — The fruits of Malaga — Turkeys and raisins — Out- 
break of cholera — Start for Gibraltar — Spanish deceptions — 
Gibraltar— The convent garden — The dragon's blood palm — 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



St Michael's cave— Soldiers' home — Visit to Tangier — Tangier — 
A Tangier law case — The governor's castle — The governor's 
wife — The emperor's brother — The bazaar — A Jewish party — 
Farewell to Tangier — Return to Gibraltar, . . 49-79 

CHAPTER IV. 

From Malaga to Granada — The Vega of Granada — Hotels in 
Granada — The Alhambra — The Generalife— Restoration of the 
Alhambra — The gypsies' quarter — Sketching in Spain — The 
Cartuja convent — The cathedral — A review — A gypsy dance — 
Accommodation at Granada — A veteran — A Spanish home — 
Excursions from Granada — Mail cart travelling — Jaen and its 
population — The scenery — Night at Granada— A night ar- 
• rival, 80-103 

CHAPTER. V. 

A mule journey — Preparations for the road — Pinos — A village 
posada — Soto de Roma — Alcala la Real— Muleteers — Peasant 
costumes — An ly start — Rearing of horses — Winter floods 
— Gibraltar to Cadiz — Murillo's St Catherine — Wine vaults of 
Xeres — The wines of Spain — Wines and their prices — Port 
wines, . . . . . . 104-121 

CHAPTER VI. 

Seville : Its houses and population — Public buildings— Murillo's 
paintings —Cigar manufactory — Foundling"" hospital — Story of 
a foundling— Life in Seville — Bull-fight costumes — A lodging- 
house — Washing establishment — Palm Sunday — The proces- 
sion on Palm Sunday — Spanish revivals — Holy Thursday — The 
Infanta and her daughter — Ceremonies of the holy week — 
Washing the feet— The Miserere — Rending the veil — Easter 
Day, . . 122-145 

CHAPTER VII. 

The great fair— Life at the fair— The live stock— Bull-fights— The 
bulls— The fight — Character of the sport — A Portuguese bull- 
fight — Spanish sports — Spanish cruelty — Routes to Madrid — 
Cathedral of Cordova — The Guadalquivir — The Infanta and her 
husband, ....... 146-162 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Arrival at Lisbon — Custom-house arrangements— Vestiges of the 
earthquake — Mosaics in the St Roque — Foundling hospital 
— Belem church — Portuguese churches — Modern aqueduct — 
Primitive vehicles — Railways and roads — Visit to Santarem — 
Chapel of Sta Rita — Portuguese navvies — Visit to Cintra — 
Moorish palace — Moorish remains — The Pena palace — Monser- 
rat — Departure from Lisbon — Spanish bigotry — Curious ship- 
ment—Home, 163-184 



TOUE OF A FAMILY 

HOUND THE 

COASTS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 

♦ 

CHAPTER I: 

Haying determined to spend the winter in the 
south of Europe, after many interesting debates 
and conversations we decided that the south of 
Spain should be our destination. We had pre- 
viously spent several winters at Nice and its 
neighbourhood, and we saw by the railway guides 
that it was now as easy to reach Barcelona by 
Perpignan as to go to Nice by Toulon. 

We tried that all-powerful medium, an ad- 
vertisement in the Times, for a servant who 

A 



t 

2 FRENCH HOTELS. 

could speak the language, and were most fortu- 
nate in finding a Spanish female servant who had 
been sixteen years in an English family, and who 
proved of inestimable use and comfort to us. 

"We left Folkestone on the 27th of October, 
having allowed the first stormy break of the 
weather to pass, and then had a charming season 
for our journey, retreating south with the de- 
parting summer. 

We had a smooth passage, and arrived in Paris 
the same evening without fatigue, and two days 
after made the journey to Lyons. It is better 
in France, when once upon the rail, to make a 
long journey and rest alternate days, than to 
attempt to break the journey by travelling short 
distances, because so much time is lost and 
fatigue experienced in all the tedious arrange- 
ments that are gone into at the stations for the 
weighing and the safety of the luggage. 

It is prudent in France to inquire the price of 
one's rooms, as otherwise the people are apt to 
think that you are totally regardless of expense, 
and to charge accordingly. At the Grand Hotel 
de Lyon we were made to pay exceedingly high 
for our rooms. There are certain rooms on the 



N1SMES AND ITS ANTIQUITIES. 3 

first floor that are very expensive. After one 
day of rest, an easy day brought us on to Nismes : 
at Orange, half way to the latter place, stands a 
superb Roman arch, said to be two thousand 
years old. It can be seen from the railway, if 
people are on the alert, before reaching the sta- 
tion, but it is well worthy of a visit ; also it is 
necessary to be on the watch at the next station, 
as the ancient Palace of the Popes at Avignon is 
most imposing, as seen from the rail a few hun- 
dred yards before reaching the station. The 
ruins at Nismes are very extensive and interest- 
ing, including a grand amphitheatre, an idea of 
the size of which may be formed when it is known 
that the first 'Napoleon expelled two thousand 
inhabitants from under its arches in order to 
place it in its present state of cleanliness. It 
is so convenient as an arena that Spanish bull- 
fights have occasionally been held in it of late 
years ; indeed the " Plaza de Toros," at Valentia, 
which is a superb new edifice, although only in 
brick, is a close imitation of it. A temple here 
called the " Maison Carree" is one of the most 
perfect and beautiful Roman buildings extant. 
There are interesting remains of baths, &c. There 



4 



A SPANISH DILIGENCE. 



are excellent hotels at Nismes, Avignon, and 
Montpellier ; the latter place is one hour by rail 
from Nismes ; from thence to Perpignan is a 
short day's journey. The people are a diminutive 
race at Nismes, and onwards towards Spain ; in- 
deed, although an active, industrious people, they 
are not handsome. Vestiges of fever are seen in 
the lantern jaws and short-cut hair of many of 
the inhabitants of the whole of this south coast 
of France. There is a large extent of country 
under vineyards here, and many of the wines pro- 
duced are full-bodied and good. 

At Perpignan the traveller who is to journey 
into Spain is again obliged to betake himself to 
the old-fashioned mode of travelling by diligence, 
the railway north of Barcelona being opened only 
to Hostalrich and Mataro. We started in high 
spirits at the thought of our charming drive into 
Spain. We had a mayoral or guard, a driver, 
and two footmen. It was the duty of the 
latter to run alongside, to thrash the horses or 
mules, or to pelt them with stones when the road 
was bad, and to jump up and cling to the diligence 
when the road was so good as to enable them to 
strike into a trot. The approved plan of cross- 



FIRST GLIMPSES OF SPAIN. 



5 



ing a river is to send the footmen in advance to 
move any large stones, or fill any holes either in 
the bed of the river or on the opposite bank ; 
after which they return to the diligence, and the 
team is made to charge it at full gallop, accom- 
panied with yelling, hooting, pelting, jolting, and 
splashing ; and after a most exciting rush, if for- 
tunate, you arrive safe, although breathless, at 
the opposite side. The men soon after begin to 
smoke and sing as if nothing had happened. The 
drive to Junquiera is pretty, passing El Boul and 
over the wooded heights of the Col de Pertus 
and Bellegarde, the summit of the Pyrenean 
chain ; you then descend to Junquiera, where 
is the Spanish custom-house ; from thence the 
country is varied with cork-trees, stone-pines, 
and long-stretching plains where rice and esparto 
are cultivated ; the latter is much used for making 
matting and ropes. To the west the Canigu, a 
fine mountain, spreads forth its spurs, the lower 
zone of which is covered with stone-pines ; from 
this the distance is short to Figueras, where we 
slept and had our first specimen of a Catalan 
posada and its noisy inmates. The accommoda- 
tion was scant and bad. The strong fortress of 



6 



EXECRABLE ROADS. 



Figueras is said to belong to the Spaniards in 
time of peace, and to the French in time of war. 

We were on the following morning transferred 
by our traitor diligence agent to a smaller and 
dirtier diligence, and were told we must go on 
by this or return to Perpignan for redress. We 
got moodily into our small confined vehicle, and 
drove several hours through a cultivated plain to 
Gerona, which has a fine cathedral, leading up to 
which is a magnificent flight of eighty-six steps 
raised in 1607 by Bishop Zuazo. On leaving 
Gerona, our mayoral coolly told us w r e could not 
possibly reach the station in time for the train 
for Barcelona that night. The roads now be- 
came execrable, full of holes, heavy clay and 
mud, through which our mules struggled and 
plunged. Our diligence lurched like a ship at sea, 
and it became darker and darker. We felt very 
anxious as to our long lone road leading through 
rivers, mire, and mud ; at one time we came to a 
dead stop, caused by eight mules being all down 
at once. After much confusion and noise, they 
were got up, and constrained by thrashing and 
abuse to renew the struggle ; for some miles we 
continued to go on in the same manner, making 



AN OVERTURN. 



7 



some tremendous lurches, from which we miracu^ 
lously recovered our balance ; at last fortune de- 
serted us, we lurched, quivered in the air for a 
second or two, and went over. 

The diligence fell partly on a sloping bank, 
and we were not in a completely horizontal posi- 
tion, those who were uppermost were enabled to 
avoid crushing their neighbours to death. By 
the help of the mayoral we were dragged out one 
by one, and put down in the mud without any 
serious injury. There we were in the dark, but 
most thankful to be without broken bones. Our 
Spanish maid and the mayoral had been sitting 
in the front : they had made a flying somerset over 
the mules, and had lighted on the opposite bank ■ 
the former so confused with her fall, she could 
not at first answer to her name, and we were ap- 
prehensive that she had been killed on the spot, 
and were greatly relieved at last to hear, from 
beyond the mules, a feeble voice telling us she 
was not much injured. It was a curious fact that 
when the mules were all thus clown in a confused 
heap, they lay motionless and harmless. A friendly 
lantern made its appearance in the hands of a 
man who had seen our downfall, and we all 



8 A NIGHT AT A EAILWAY STATION. 

trudged through the mire, and after half a mile's 
walk arrived at a temporary wooden station at 
Palma, two miles from Hostalrich, at 11 o'clock 
p.m. Here we were told there was no train till 
six o'clock the following morning, and no other 
shelter than this in the neighbourhood. The 
station was full of wild- looking Spaniards, congre- 
gated around small tables, drinking Catalan wine 
and coffee, and singing and making merry over it. 
They at first stared at us as interlopers, but soon 
got tired of that and continued their merriment. 
In the mean time we ingratiated ourselves with our 
hostess, who magnanimously offered to transfer a 
bedful of children to a darker and dirtier den, 
and put all the ladies of our party into their bed : 
this did not suit our ideas of comfort ; we preferred 
waiting till the Spaniards retired, and then ar- 
ranged to pass the night upon the tables and 
chairs, and rough it as well as we could, somewhat 
comforted by knowing that a strong guard of men 
had been placed around the station to protect 
ourselves as well as our luggage. We groaned on 
till morning, when we were enchanted with the un- 
romantic sound of the railway whistle. We shook 
ourselves up, and with great satisfaction took our 



BARCELONA. 



9 



seats in a comfortable railway carriage for Bar- 
celona, where we arrived in three hours. 

Barcelona is a stirring manufacturing town, the 
Manchester of Spain ; it has a fine harbour to the 
east, and is situated on a rich plain surrounded 
by swelling hills, and watered and irrigated by 
the river Llobregat, which falls into the sea to the 
south of Monjuich, a fine hill-fort which com- 
mands the town, and from which there is an ex- 
tensive view r . Through the centre of the town, 
leading from the port landwards, is the Rambla — 
a wide walk with seats and trees on either side, 
and at both sides a carriage thoroughfare. Here 
are the principal hotels, theatres, post-office, 
diligence-office, bureau for passports, best shops, 
&c. The Rambla is about three-quarters of a 
mile long ; from it radiate narrow tortuous streets, 
with Prout-like houses jutting over the pavement 
in artistic taste, occasionally opening upon small 
plazas with fountains, at which groups of peasants 
are seen watering their mules, or carrying off 
their elegant-shaped earthen vases of water on 
their heads; and peeps of fine old Gothic churches, 
forming good subjects for an artist. The princi- 
pal hotels are the Citatro Naciones and the 



io 



BAD DRAINAGE. 



Fonda de Oriente, both large ; the charge at the 
former was about 40 reals a-day, or 8 s. 6d. Eng- 
lish, for apartments and board for each person. 
The food was indifferent, and the house so offen- 
sive from want of modern improvements with 
regard to water and drainage, as to be totally 
unfit for persons accustomed to modern civilisa- 
tion. The town lies so low that the drains can- 
not be properly flushed. The mode of making the 
main-drains in the centre of the narrow streets 
covered with pavement, in which there are large 
slits a foot and a half long by an inch wide, to 
allow rain-water to escape, also allows foul air to 
rise into the overhanging dwellings of the people. 
The Rambla is no exception in this respect, but 
being wider, the air is less contaminated. It is 
the only walk, and is certainly not air for delicate 
persons to inhale. The Muralla del Mar is a 
beautiful terrace-walk by the sea, but it is open 
to the same objection on account of the exhala- 
tion from the accumulated filth of the tideless 
port. The climate, certainly, we found delightful. 
In November the thermometer varied from 53° to 
64° in the open air, while there was no sensation 
of cold in the house ; and though there were fire- 



DEFICIENT ACCOMMODATIONS. 11 

places in several rooms of the hotel, we did not 
require to use them. Yet in spite of the climate, 
circumstances induced us to shorten our stay at 
Barcelona, where there are other drawbacks be- 
sides those mentioned above. It is almost im- 
possible to hire a furnished house for the winter, 
it being derogatory to the dignity of a Spaniard 
to let his house ; and there are no placards up to 
indicate that apartments will be let for immediate 
occupation, as in other parts of Europe. There 
is no English church, nor is the service even read 
in the Consul's house ; indeed, there are numerous 
English workmen in the large manufactories, who 
have been totally neglected ; the children born 
here, if baptised at all, fall into the hands of the 
Roman Catholic priests, and are lost to our Church, 
and their morals deteriorated by the temptations 
of a large and not over-religious community. 
Unfortunate seafaring men, both residents and 
those who visit the port in our ships, are without 
opportunity of attending divine service. Our 
countrymen in this respect seem shamefully ne- 
glected, which strengthens the opinion of Spaniards, 
that we, being beyond the pale of their Church, 
are totally without religion. We were frequently 



12 



THE CATHEDRAL. 



asked, in a hesitating whisper, if we were Chris- 
tians. Were suburban yillas built on the swell- 
ing hills outside the town, and a good hotel or 
hotels near the railway station, an English church 
erected, or the service read in the Consul's house, 
it is likely the English would flock to Barcelona, 
and find it a delightful winter residence. The town 
is sheltered, and there are numerous and inter- 
esting excursions to be made in the neighbour- 
hood by railways and steamers. 

The Cathedral La Sen is a grand Gothic build- 
ing of 1298; a fine flight of steps leads up to it ; 
it has two polygonal towers ; the interior is lofty 
and solemn. The pillars which support the nave 
are of great solidity. The painted glass is richly- 
coloured and magnificent ; the organs are large and 
fine toned ; under each of them hangs an immense 
Saracen's head, with a long beard and gold ear- 
rings. These are frequently displayed in Spanish 
churches ; they have had their origin in the wars 
between the Moors and the Christians. The 
cloisters adjoining are very beautiful ; in the centre 
there is a garden in which are some date-palms. 
There are several other fine churches : La Santa 
Maria with a lofty single nave, the coloured glass 



SPANISH CURRENCY. 



in the windows of which church is very rich and 
jewel-like, was began in 1328 and finished in 
1483. There is a good view of the exterior from 
the street facing the west end of it, with a fountain 
in the foreground. The oldest church in Bar- 
celona is San Pere de los Puellos, built in 980. 
San Jacine, built in 1399, has a noble nave. La 
Casa de Dusai in the Calle de Regomer is a 
Moorish house, and has a fine courtyard ; and the 
Cardonas has a large and handsome patio or 
court. The Bishop's palace and that of the 
County of Barcelona are interesting. In the saloon 
of the Audiencia are the archives of Aragon, 
the finest in Spain, 8000 volumes, coming down 
to 874 ; they are said to be marvels of historical 
information, and are as yet almost unknown. 

In travelling in Spain it is very necessary that 
some of the party should understand the lan- 
guage. In a country where everything is bar- 
gained for, those who do not understand it or the 
people, would be atrociously imposed upon. The 
use of Spanish money is at first confusing. It is 
advantageous to bear in mind that one hundred 
reals are equal to a guinea of our money, and a 
gold piece of that value is the current coin of the 



14 SPANISH AND ENGLISH FASHIONS. 

country. A sovereign is ninety-five reals ; a crown, 
twenty-two reals ; a shilling, four and three-fourth 
reals. It is best for ladies to wear black silk, or 
dresses of some dark colour. Bonnets are being 
introduced by the French ; but hats are totally 
unknown to Spanish eyes, and cause the greatest 
consternation and astonishment. It was amusing 
to watch the countenances of mute amazement 
of those who met a lady wearing a hat ; they 
would turn round, stand still, and gaze till she 
vanished from their sight. The streets of Bar- 
celona being extremely dirty, we looped up our 
dresses ; this caused the old women to rush out 
of their houses or shops at us, and pull vigorously 
at our skirts ; it was difficult to appease them, 
or make them understand that our dresses were 
purposely worn so. The woollen mantas of Cata- 
lonia are very handsome. The men wear these 
over their shoulders much as Highlanders do a 
plaid. They are striped, the colours rich and 
brilliant, scarlet predominating. The price of 
these varies from four to eight dollars each. The 
Plateria, where they sell the gold and silver 
ornaments worn by the peasants, is worth visit- 
ing ; the forms are elegant and quite antique. 



SPANISH LACE. 15 

• 

The wines of the country are generally good. 
One cannot look for the best specimens at a 
hotel ; but judging from those we had they are 
good, and that called Priorata seems a first-rate 
wine, and well adapted to the English market. 
We shall speak more fully of wines hereafter. 
There is a certain bird in this country, called 
Estornino, about the size of a quail, which feeds 
greedily on the olives ; it is very fat and juicy, 
with a slight bitter taste ; it seemed to us the 
most delicious of the feathered tribe. To turn 
one's taste another way, the beautiful lace of 
Barcelona must not be forgotten. It is made in 
the various villages around, generally in pieces, 
and sewed together at the lace establishments in 
Barcelona. It is cheaper here than elsewhere in 
Spain, and there is a great choice of pattern and 
quality. The white Spanish lace, similar to white 
blonde, is also made, but it is very expensive, and 
soon loses its colour, and can only be worn in very 
full dress. 

"We were never tired of visiting the beautiful 
cathedral, its cloister, and garden. We were for- 
tunate enough one day after vespers, at 3 o'clock 
p.m., to see a baptism. A large merry party 



16 



A SPANISH BAPTISM. 



in full dress entered the cathedral, without any 
appearance of reverence or solemnity : the beaux 
of the party dipped their fingers in the holy 
water, and sprinkled it over the young ladies, 
they dodging to avoid it, and laughing indeco- 
rously. The godfather carried the nina (infant), 
which was only three days old : the godmother 
had a tall flaring candle in her hand. The priest 
met them at the door, asked the name of the 
child, said a prayer, took a stole from his neck 
and placed it on the infant's breast, then all 
walked to the font in a chapel at the left side of 
the door. At this moment one of the party asked 
us to join them, which we did. The infant's fine 
cap and frock being removed, the poor little red 
thing was seen swaddled up so tight it could not 
move, and its arms were extended like those of 
a distorted German doll. It was motionless, and 
had the appearance of being drugged. The priest 
took this atom of humanity in his arms, crossed 
its forehead, face, and breast, poured water over 
its head with its face downwards, turned it round, 
breathed upon its face, put salt into its nose and 
mouth, anointed its forehead, chin, and the nape 
of its neck with oil, took the huge candle from the 



ADVENT UEE WITH BANDITTI. 17 



god-mother, put it into the extended and distorted 
hand of the infant, placed a veil or hood on the 
child's head, all the time muttering a prayer with 
amazing rapidity. He put the lid on the font, 
took a book, inkstand, and pen from one of the 
attendants, and wrote the name of the child in it. 
This finished the ceremony. The godfather is 
expected to distribute money to a crowd of beg- 
gars, w T ho always are on the look-out for these 
ceremonies, and assemble at the door ; if they 
don t consider the donation sufficiently handsome, 
they call out " Stingy fellows V 

They are still a wild race around Barcelona, and 
many of these are seen in the town. A Spanish 
marquis was pointed out to us at the theatre, whose 
father, a banker, was said to have left him fourteen 
thousand a-year — a large fortune in Spain. The 
marquis is a strange, reserved man, and never goes 
into society ; his only pleasure is the theatre. 
All these circumstances seem to have been well 
known to the banditti of the country, who formed 
the daring design of kidnapping him on his re- 
turn from the theatre at night, and thereby ex- 
torting a large sum as a ransom. With this view 
they fell upon him and gagged him in one of the 

B 



18 



SCENERY ROUND BARCELONA. 



retired streets ; but he was a powerful man, arid 
tnade a desperate resistance ; the noise brought 
the man-cook of a neighbouring house to his 
assistance. They two fought so resolutely that, 
although the marquis was severely wounded, he 
rescued himself from his assailants. A very large 
reward was offered for the apprehension of the 
miscreants, but they have never been discovered. 
The marquis continues to go to the theatre, but 
always accompanied by a strong guard. 

We made a charming excursion to Manresa and 
Monserrat. We took the rail (which is open to 
Lerida on the Saragoza line) as far as Manresa 
station, which is two hours from Barcelona. We 
passed through a richly-cultivated plain. To the 
left, the jagged peaks of the singularly beautiful 
Monserrat rise clear out of an undulating country, 
covered with pines and brushwood. The river 
Llobregat winds round its base and through the 
valleys alongside the railway, which is well en- 
gineered, over and through rock that rises like a 
wall at each side, after which it opens out into 
a wider valley, at the right side of which rises 
the picturesque and beautifully-situated town of 
Manresa, crowned by its enormous cathedral. Its 



MANRESA. 



19 



irregular houses, built on terraces of rock, are 
enlivened by wreaths of scarlet, green, and blue 
woollen cloth, hung on balconies across windows 
and streets. It is a thriving cloth-manufacturing 
town of more than 14,000 inhabitants. At this 
season the bright yellow of the Indian corn is 
superadded, the heads of which are strung on cord, 
and hung over balconies and around windows. 
This gives it a most brilliant effect. The station 
is more than a mile from the town, but as yet 
travelling by railway is in its infancy, and there 
are no conveyances to meet travellers ; so we were 
obliged to hire a cart to carry our luggage up to 
the town, and w r e ascended on foot over a rough 
and ill-paved road to the Posada del Sol, where 
we were received with surprise, but with great 
civility. This was a good specimen of a common 
Spanish Posada. We entered it by a sort of 
vaulted stable or coach-house, where were mule- 
teers unloading their mules. Through the arch- 
way beyond was seen a long vaulted stable, with 
about fifty mules, some kicking and braying. We 
ascended a narrow stair to the first floor, and 
found muleteers dining off olla, boiled beans, and 
white sauce, and drinking dark-red wine out of 



20 



A SPANISH POSADA. 



antique-looking glass bottles, with long narrow 
spouts, which they elevate high in the air, and a 
thin stream flows into their mouths, the lower lip 
being protruded to catch it — a fashion which it re- 
quired considerable practice to excel in, and which 
we saw here for the first time. We had yet to 
ascend to the second floor, where we found some 
bare, primitive-looking rooms. Our landlady was 
very polite ; and, pleased with the insinuating 
tongue of her countrywoman, our Spanish maid, 
she promised to cook us some of her best Spanish 
dishes for dinner : the result was a delicious dish of 
red-legged partridges, stewed with capsicums, and 
a savoury dish of kid and olives. The mosquitos 
were most annoying; travellers should come pre- 
pared with portable mosquito nets, for which Bar- 
celona is famous. The accommodation was scant, 
and our sleep was driven away by these trumpet- 
ing tormentors, so we were not sorry to rise with 
the sun, and wander through this most interesting 
town. The interior of the cathedral is very grand, 
and the situation most commanding. The rushing 
streams through the town, and romantic situations 
of the houses and bridges, were very picturesque. 
The salt mines of Cardona, which lie some distance 



MONSERRAT AND THE MONASTERY. 21 

on the line of railway towards Saragoza, are said 
to be well worthy of a visit. 

The following day we returned to the station of 
Monistrol, half-way back to Barcelona, where we 
got a tartana, a light two-wheeled covered cart, 
without springs, which was drawn by a stout mule, 
to take us to the village of Monistrol, three miles 
distant, which lies at the foot of the mountain of 
Monserrat. The hotel is a poor place ; close to it 
is a fine Roman bridge. A French engineer told 
us it had been built on a very scientific principle. 
The bridge and town form a beautiful landscape for 
the artist. Upon the side of Monserrat, at the 
height of 3000 feet, stands the far-famed and much- 
revered monastery which takes its name from the 
mountain. The number of pilgrims during the sum- 
mer is so great as to have induced the railway 
proprietors to construct a carriage-road to the con- 
vent from the station, a distance of eight or ten 
miles, at the cost of £20,000. From two to three 
hundred pilgrims visit it daily. In fine weather, 
a staff of nine diligences attends at the station of 
Monistrol, to meet the train which leaves Barcelona 
at a quarter to six o'clock in the morning, and arrives 
there at 9 a.m. They take passengers up to the 



22 



ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. 



convent, and return to meet the 5 p.m. train, which 
takes them back to Barcelona by 8 p.m. The* 
season being past, we had to engage a private 
carriage, at the cost of 56 reals, to take us to the 
monastery. The road is smooth, admirably con- 
structed, and resembles many of the alpine passes ; 
the ascent is gradual, but long-continued ; a parapet 
rarely occurs ; single stones at a distance of five or 
six yards apart are the only safeguard ; the preci- 
pices are almost perpendicular, and of an appal- 
ling depth. The air was cold and chilly, and sin- 
gularly clear and rarefied. There is a fine exten- 
sive view of a country not pretty or interesting in 
itself, but rendered so by grandeur of space. The 
Pyrenees are seen in the distance, crowned with 
snow. The huge boulder-stones lying by the road- 
side looked like giants' w r ork. The grand peaks 
above us took every form fancy can imagine — some 
like elephants or Nineveh bulls; others like giants 
on pinnacles in the form of sugar-loaves, seemed 
ready to topple over us. The lower part of the 
mountain is covered with arbutus, myrtle, heath, 
and boxwood. This mountain is celebrated for its 
flora. The convent is in ruins, the w r ork of the 
French. One part only of the Benedictine con- 



A CATALAN LANDLORD. 



23 



vent is inhabited by thirty-five monks, who keep 
a school for children of the higher ranks. The 
church has been partly restored, and painted in 
imitation of the Alhambra. The chief attraction 
is the image of a black Madonna. Her dress and 
wardrobe are very splendid, and can be seen on 
application. 

We did not ascertain whether or not the Bishop 
of Barcelona is a shareholder in the railway, but 
we saw he offered large indulgences to those who 
come and say a certain number of prayers at some 
of the chapels here. The view from the terrace gar- 
den is very fine ; also from a scrambling walk to 
the hermitage of Santa Ana and San Benito, near 
which is a singular fissure called La Roca estrecha. 

We returned to our posada at Monistrol. Our 
landlord was a rough, coarse, short-nosed Catalan, 
cook and waiter all in one. He brought in our 
dinner of several well-cooked dishes one by one. 
After carving a dish he quietly sat down by us — 
viewed with satisfaction our good appetites — pressed 
us to partake freely — asked all sorts of questions 
as to our country, family, our impressions of Spain, 
&c. When one dish was finished he rushed away 
for another, and repeated the process. The cham- 



24 



NIGHT ACCOMMODATION. 



bermaid was a very rude specimen of her genus, 
who stared when we asked for any small lux- 
ury, such as water. Our rooms were devoid of 
comfort. In one there were five beds, one small 
basin, and two chairs ; in another, three beds, 
one chair, and one table. Our nights were spent 
in execrating an atrocious watchman, who came 
his rounds every hour and thumped at the doors 
and windows to assure us of our safety, which 
caused a colony of dogs, who slept about the cor- 
ridors, to rush down a flight of steps and bark 
and howl at him. Our safety might be estab- 
lished by this arrangement, but sleep was driven 
away. As soon as dawn approached, the mule- 
teers, who slept below us, began their noisy pre- 
parations for the day's journey, so that we had a 
sorry night of it. While the monastic institution 
on the mountain above is on the wane, the hand- 
maids of civilisation — manufactories — are spring- 
ing up at the foot of it. There are several cotton- 
mills at the river-side; and we met a young man 
who had been enlightened by spending some 
months in Manchester to improve his knowledge 
of his profession. 

Another excursion from Barcelona is to Mar- 



MART0REL. 



25 



torel, one hour by rail to the south, of Mon- 
serrat. The station is at the top of the Rambla. 
The country here for miles is a continued market- 
garden, with here and there a cotton manufactory 
in the suburbs of small Tillages. The first rising- 
ground at each side is of ugly red clay covered 
with vines and olives, while on the highest hills 
are ruined towers. Martorel is a straggling town 
— the principal street a sink of filth and mud 
two feet deep, through which mules heavily laden 
struggle ; foot-passengers have to pick their way 
as best they can, close to the house doors. In 
some parts of Spain there are enactments to pre- 
vent the streets being cleaned on account of the 
value of the manure. The doorways are large 
and open, in which women sit making black lace, 
on cushions, on their knees. These unfortunate 
people inhale the effluvium from this pestilential 
mud which is constantly stirred up by the mules 
splashing through it. The people are ugly, coarse, 
and ill-made. The men's costume is unbecoming 
— trousers, w r hich reach almost to their shoulders, 
and short brown woollen jackets — their heads 
covered with a purple or red woven night-cap, the 
long end hanging down behind, or doubled up 



26 



ANCIENT BRIDGE. 



over the forehead in a raffish sort of fashion. The 
women wear a tight-fitting square-made boddice 
of black velvet or cloth, and a bright -coloured 
cotton handkerchief tied round their head. 

At a mile distant from the village there is a 
grand bridge, said to have been built by Hanni- 
bal. It has three arches, the centre one singularly 
lofty and pointed, 133 feet in span. On the top 
of this pointed arch is a peculiar gateway, rising 
from either parapet, apparently built to give suffi- 
cient weight to the top of the bridge, so as to re- 
sist the pressure upon the sides of the high arch. 
The width of the bridge is only five feet — barely 
sufficient for laden mules to cross it. At the east 
end of this bridge stands a Roman arch. This 
bridge widely differs from that at Monistrol, where 
there is a second blind arch built in at each side, 
to prevent the same side-pressure. 



ROUTES TO VALENCIA. 



27 



CHAPTEE II. 



There are three modes of going to Valencia 
from Barcelona. The land journey by diligence is 
long and fatiguing by Tarragona, Tortosa, and 
Murviedro (the ancient Saguntum). At all these 
towns there are fine Roman remains, and the 
cathedrals and churches are well worth visiting. 
The last-mentioned town (Murviedro) is only 
about twenty-four miles from Valencia, and can be 
visited from it either by diligence or in a tartana. 
There is a steamer from Barcelona once a-week 
to Valencia in about twenty hours ; but if tra- 
vellers wish to visit the Balearic Islands, it may 
be managed by taking a steamer, w T hich sails in 
twelve hours to Port Mahon in Minorca ; a second 
steamer touches at a small town in Majorca, 
opposite Minorca ; a diligence will then take pas- 
sengers from thence across the island to Palma, 
w r here steamers constantly call to take passengers 



28 



A SPANISH STEAMER. 



to Valencia. We were told it is a very charming 
excursion. The islands are rich in orange gar- 
dens, fruit, and flowers. The people are civil to 
the English, whom they much resemble in their 
habits, and they are remarkably clean in their 
houses. Many of them speak English, and it is 
still taught in their schools. 

On the 23d of November we embarked in the 
Tharsis, a Spanish steamer, for Valencia. We 
w r ere summoned to be on board at 8 a.m., but we 
did not sail till 2 p.m. No sort of apology was 
offered, or even thought of, by any one concerned. 
The coast is pretty, the shores covered with 
sparkling white villages, and we had fine weather 
and a lovely moonlight night. We passed Tarra- 
gona late in the evening, and at six the following 
morning the Balearic Islands were distinctly 
visible, rising in detached rocks of deep purple 
against the rich glow of a rising sun ; but when 
it came above the horizon the lovely phantom- 
like islands vanished. The coast becomes higher 
and more barren as one nears Murviedro and the 
modern town of Castillon de la Plana. We saw 
the ruins of the amphitheatre and town glittering 
in the sun. From this the hills gradually slope 



ARRIVAL AT VALENCIA. 



29 



upwards, and, behind Valencia, form a semicircle, 
and rise again to Cape San Antonio to the south. 
The bay of Valencia is wide and open, and 
from it there is an extensive view of the town, 
with its domed churches and campaniles, which 
give it an Eastern appearance. We were obliged 
to land in small boats. On nearing the quay a 
swarm of wild amphibious-looking creatures closed 
round us, hanging on to the boat, crawling in 
over its sides, and when alongside seizing our 
luggage, screaming, and cuffing each other, and 
tumbling over packages in the most savage man- 
ner, like water-demons. With the assistance of 
a fellow-passenger, who had been long in Spain, 
we extricated ourselves and our luggage, and 
made our way through them. A second fight for 
ourselves and our luggage took place amongst the 
drivers of rickety carts and tartanas. At last we 
got ourselves and our effects to the custom-house, 
where there was not much trouble or delay, and 
again with difficulty succeeded in getting into a 
tartana. More money had been expended on its 
colours than on its springs ; but our driver kept 
his balance on a little round seat, fastened to the 
shaft, in a most astonishing manner. It is fully 



30 



CHURCHES AND PICTURES. 



two miles from El Gras (the port) to the town, 
the road wide but execrable. We went to the 
Hotel Madrid, where our rooms were tolerable, 
and food good. The bread throughout Spain is 
excellent. In the smallest Tillage you may always 
procure good bread and chocolate ; coffee is 
also generally to be had. The Fonda del Cid 
is said to be a good hotel ; it is near the cathe- 
dral. Valencia is rich in churches and church 
ceremonies. None of the exteriors are imposing, 
but the interiors and pictures are very rich and 
beautiful. It is impossible here to give a list of 
the numerous works of Ribalta, Juanes, Ribera, 
and others ; only some of those most striking 
to a stranger will be mentioned. In the cathe- 
dral, to the right on entering, in a side chapel, is 
a glorious " Christ," in a violet-coloured robe, and 
holding the chalice in his hand, by Juanes. In 
another chapel there is a fine Sapoferrato. In the 
Sacristia there are several of Juanes, Ribalta, and 
one Murillo (" The Entombment and the Maries''), 
also a " Holy Family," by Juanes. 

From the bell tower is obtained the best view of 
Valencia, with its Eastern domes, tortuous streets, 
Moorish walls, and fine gateways ; also of the 



CHUECHES AND PICTURES. 



31 



Huerta, a plain north of the town, which is perhaps 
the richest in Europe, extending to about sixty 
miles in length, and from ten to twenty miles in 
breadth. From the mildness of the climate, and 
from irrigation, it is under a succession of crops all 
the year round. This apparent earthly paradise, 
where oranges, olives, lemons, almonds, grapes, 
pomegranates, dates, Indian corn, rice, &c, abound, 
is treacherous, for hundreds of its inhabitants are 
swept off annually by fever. We counted thirty 
churches within the walls of the city. Near the 
cathedral is the chapel of Our Lady of the Unpro- 
tected, Nuestra Senora de los Desemparados; 
the image of the Virgin is literally a blaze of jewels, 
— a crown of pearls and diamonds, necklaces, 
brooches, and rings of every coloured jewel. One 
enormous emerald in a brooch which fastens the 
sleeve was given lately by the Queen of Spain. 
The infant Saviour in her arms is covered with 
similar jewels. The whole are worth £20,000 ; 
and the miraculous cures are wondrous. In the 
church of " San Juan," near the market, are two 
exquisite lamps suspended on each side of the 
altar from figures of boys on panthers. In this 
church is the celebrated " Concepcion" or u Paris- 



CHUECH CEREMONIES. 



sima," by Juanes. In San Martin, on the left on 
entering, there is a fine picture of the Virgin, 
and a " Christ lamented by the Maries " under- 
neath it. In the chapel of the Communion, out 
of the sacristia, there is a magnificent Virgin and 
Child with saints adoring, and angels' heads above. 

The Chapel of the Colegio de Corpus, or del 
Patriarca, is celebrated for its ceremonies ; at the 
Miserere, on Fridays at 10 a.m., is one of their 
most sacred ceremonies. We saw the dedication 
of flowers to the host in a silver tabernacle at 
this church. For this the interior is darkened, the 
altar only being brilliantly lighted up with four- 
teen enormous candles. Twelve priests in gor- 
geous robes, carrying pyramids of flowers in golden 
vases about a foot and a half high, enter from the 
sacristia. They stood in pairs before the altar, 
bow r ed themselves and their pyramids of flowers 
three times — first standing, then kneeling, then 
again standing. They ascended the flight of steps 
close to the altar, and there repeated the same 
ceremony, and placed their vases and flowers on 
the altar, and afterwards retired, six at each side. 
Meanwhile four priests, in rich crimson and gold- 
embroidered robes, and carrying the host, came 



CIGAR FACTORY. 



33 



down the centre of the church, stood before the 
altar, and waved incense till the church was 
filled with it. The chanting and music during 
the whole ceremony were soft and beautiful. 

In the Grlorieta, a public garden, is the cigar 
manufactory : the building is handsome. We 
entered a Patio (or -court), where they were un- 
packing cases of tobacco-leaves. They open one 
end of the cask, and turn out its contents, which 
look like^ a huge Brobdignag cheese. These 
are carried into a side vault, and weighed out ; 
men in very scrimp apparel were chopping and 
mashing the leaves of tobacco to prepare it for 
smoking. On the first floor four thousand wo- 
men and children were at work at long tables, 
making cigars. These are made by hand ; the 
smaller leaves neatly rolled up and wrapped 
firmly round in a large tough leaf ; it is 
twisted tightly at each end and gummed up ; 
they are then tied together in dozens, and they 
retain their shape when dry. In the second 
room were tables, around each of which sat 
twenty women or children, all busy packing 
short tobacco for pipes. At the head of each 
table sat a woman, who weighed out the tobacco 

c 



34 



THE WOEKWOMEX. 



and passed it down the table as quick as light- 
ning to those who were ready for it. They pack 
the tobacco neatly into paper bags, containing 
each about a quarter of a pound. In another 
room they were making fine snuff, the stalks 
and veins of the leaves being carefully removed 
before they are rubbed down. It was curious 
to remark, in a large manufactory of this sort, 
the almost total absence of beauty amongst the 
young women. They had neither beauty of face 
nor of figure, and were of small stature. Dur- 
ing our visit a bell was rung, and all those wo- 
men who had infants went down to the prin- 
cipal entrance, where the children were brought 
to them ; they sat down on benches or on the 
ground, and nursed their half-famished-looking 
babes, after which they returned to their work. 
A good workwoman cannot make more than two 
and a half reals a-day, or about sevenpence of 
our money. The whole is a government mono- 
poly, from which there is a large profit. 

The market is large, and teems with delicious 
fruit and vegetables. The peasants' costume is 
most becoming : the men wear very full white 
linen drawers, black or bright-coloured velvet 



PEASANT COSTUMES. 



35 



jackets, richly braided ; the gayest of waistcoats, 
red fajas (sashes), white cotton stockings, and 
hempen sandals ; on their heads, the pretty 
round turban-like black velvet hats ; across one 
shoulder, a striped woollen ruanta of the brightest 
colours. The women dress their hair in a most 
becoming manner : a rich roll of plaited hair 
round their heads, pierced with silver pins with 
large knobs. The mules and donkeys are decked 
out with worsted tassels and trappings of every 
hue, and, when carrying panniers of golden fruit, 
form, with the peasants, the most beautiful 
groups for an artist. The mantas here are very 
beautiful ; they vary in price from one hundred 
to four hundred reals — in other words, from one 
to four guineas. 

Senor Monsenat. one of the professors of the 
College, to whom we had an introduction, was 
exceedingly kind, and offered to show us every- 
thing of interest. We first visited with him the 
silk manufactory. There were one hundred and 
fifty women employed in preparing the cocoons 
for winding off the silk. They have long troughs 
filled with scalding water, into which they throw 
the cocoons, which float for some minutes ; they 



36 



SILK FACTORY. 



then turn them over and round till they are 
thoroughly scalded ; in this process they are 
constantly burning the points of their fingers, 
and, as a ready antidote, each person has a 
basin of cold water, into which they constantly 
dip their fingers ; thus the pain and any perma- 
nent ill effects are immediately removed. When 
the cocoons are thoroughly scalded, they pass 
them to others, who w T ind off the silk in skeins. 
That first wound off is coarse, and is only used 
for sewing-silk ; the second is more abundant 
and finer, and is sent into an upper chamber to 
be wound upon reels. Five cocoons make one 
skein of silk. The machinery in this manufactory 
is French, and the director of the establishment 
is a Frenchman. 

We next visited the Hospital, the largest in 
Spain. The Valencians say it is the admiration 
of all Europe. It is built in the form of a cross; 
four very long wards radiate from the centre : 
at this point stands an enormous stove, the heat 
of which is diffused by pipes to the farther end 
of each of the wards. This renders the air 
wholesome and dry ; but little artificial heat is 
required in this climate. The iron bedsteads 



THE GREAT HOSPITAL. 



37 



and bedding are scrupulously clean ; the blankets, 
checked scarlet and white, give it a gay cheerful 
look. Above the head of each bed is an open 
cupboard filled with shelves for books, work, or 
refreshing drink for the patient during the night. 
Between every two beds is hung a tent-curtain 
on a circular rod, to enable the patients to dress 
in private : none could see this without perceiv- 
ing its great advantage and comfort in point of 
decency. The kitchen is airy, large, and clean ; 
in the centre is a huge copper for boiling water; 
at one side there are three coppers for preparing 
olio, a soupe-xnaigre for the idiots, who are under 
the same roof, but kept apart, and are carefully 
attended to by Sisters of Charity. There is a 
separate room for bread, in which were standing 
long lines of baskets full of fresh bread of the 
best quality. They have a machine for cutting 
bread into slices for soup ; four loaves are put 
into it at one time. The rooms for female con- 
valescents are neatly matted, and have chintz 
curtains to the beds ; at the end of the room 
there is a small chapel and altar. The men's 
convalescent ward is quite as clean, but not so 
much furnished. We saw a priest with the Host 



38 



FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 



going to administer the last sacrament to a 
dying inmate. 

We next visited La Cana, or the Foundling 
Hospital, containing five hundred unfortunate 
children. On entering the Patio we heard a 
distant sound, as of innumerable litters of pup- 
pies whining ; on nearer approach it turned into 
a deafening and piteous wail of helpless infants ; 
they all seemed to want to be nursed at the 
same time — and it is very possible they did so, 
seeing that only one wet nurse is allowed for 
three or four infants. The long ward was 
divided down the centre by two rows of stone 
pillars ; at each side of these, in a double row, 
were placed cradles on stands, each contain- 
ing an infant. The bedding was clean, and a 
muslin curtain thrown over the crib to protect 
the infant from mosquitoes. It was piteous to 
hear the continued wail. We raised the muslin 
curtains of several of the cribs. The pinched-up 
features of the sleeping, and restless tossing of 
the crying, were most painful to see and hear. 
These infants were from three to ten days old ; 
they are then sent to the country to be reared. 
At eight or ten years of age, if not reclaimed or 



PLAZA DE TOKOS. 



adopted into the family where they were nursed, 
they are sent to charity-schools to remain till 
they get employment. We could not learn 
whether the mortality was great, or whether or 
not they turned out well when they arrived at 
years of discretion. We omitted to say that 
near the entrance-gate there is a turning-box, 
into which the unnatural parents place their 
infants ; a matron attends in a room immediately 
behind this ready to receive them. 

There is in Valencia a modern Plaza de Toros, 
or amphitheatre, for bull-fights. It is of enor- 
mous size, built of brick, and looks as if it would 
contain twenty thousand spectators. An English 
merchant who had resided four years in Spain 
told us the Spaniards are cruel to each other, 
and to their beasts of burden : he attributes 
much of it to the scenes of blood at their bull- 
fights. 

The Audiencia has a finely-carved roof and 
some frescoes of 1599 ; also a fine wooden gal- 
lery around it. In a second room, the Secretaries 
de Gobierno, there is a richly-gilded ceiling, the 
ground of which is a pale blue, the gilding and 
colour as fresh as if newly painted. 



40 THE FASHION OF VALENCIA. 



At the Glorieta, or public garden, in the 
Alameda, all the beauty and fashion of Valencia 
appear daily towards sunset. The Alameda is a 
beautiful shaded avenue, with a promenade on 
each side ; here the world drive slowly up and 
down to see and be seen in their high-wheeled 
gaily -painted tartanas. Four-w T heeled carriages 
are only just beginning to appear in Valencia, 
and there are few streets in which they can 
drive, The very large wheels of the tartanas 
enable them alone to go along the streets full of 
deep holes, large stones, and other impediments. 
We found it less fatiguing to walk than to submit 
to be shaken in these conveyances, although they 
are clean, the drivers civil, and the fares mode- 
rate. In this respect Valencia is very far be- 
hind Seville. During our stay there the tempe- 
rature was generally about 64° in the open air, 
and 60° in our rooms. 

We left Valencia for Alicante on the 30th of 
November. We started at 5 a.m. by rail for 
Alicante ; the moon shone brightly ; the watch- 
men were lighting their small fires on the pave- 
ment and heating coffee. At the railway station 
a man with a large coffee-urn and a basket full 



THE SCENERY. 



41 



of cups and saucers and rolls of bread (lantern in 
hand), offered travellers a cup of hot coffee for 
rather more than a farthing English, and a roll 
of bread for a halfpenny. This struck us as an 
excellent arrangement where there is no refresh- 
ment room, and is a preventive against drink- 
ing ardent spirits. It was very cold till the sun 
rose. We could scarcely see the rich huerta till 
we arrived at the first station ; there the fine 
carob-trees and olives appeared to be of a magni- 
ficent size — almonds, vines, melons, Indian corn, 
extensive rice-grounds and mulberry groves ; in 
fact, all and everything for the well-supplied 
market of Valencia. The curious norias (water- 
wheels) in this district are most picturesque. 

At Alcira, the next station, there were large 
orange-trees thirty feet high, full of golden fruit, 
and extensive groves of date-palms. At Tativa 
the rivers Albarda and Guadainar dispense much 
fertility around. The town is finely situated on 
the side of a hill looking to the north ; the hill is 
crowned by a Moorish castle. It is a favourite 
resort for the Valencians during the summer 
months, but it is well worthy of a visit at any 
season, as the climate is delicious. From this 



42 



ARKIYAL AT ALICANTE. 



to Almanza the country is bleak — a long chain 
of bare grey hills with troops of goats attend- 
ed by goatherds dressed in rough brown serge. 
These hills are singularly upheaved and full of 
caves. At Almanza, half-way to Madrid from 
Valencia, is a Moorish castle on a conical hill ■ 
the town nestles at its base. In the distance 
there is a hill resembling Salisbury Crags near 
Edinburgh. 

We breakfasted at the station, and met the 
train coming from Madrid for Alicante ; the one 
we had come by proceeded to Madrid, which 
place it reaches in fourteen hours from V alencia. 
The line of rail south now took us through a 
most interesting country. The romantic towns of 
Villena, Sax, and Monavoe, with their fine old 
castles backed by high mountains, form the most 
charming views for an artist. 

On approaching Alicante the country becomes 
arid and Eastern-looking. Soon the high rock of 
Alicante appeared in sight, and we arrived there 
at 2 p.m. The Fonda el Vapor of better repute 
being full, we went to the Fonda Barcelona, 
where the accommodation was dirty and the food 
bad. Alicante is a beautifully situated town, 



ALICANTE. 



43 



but the streets are so tortuous and crooked that 
we saw no house in which a respectable party 
could find an abode, excepting the house of the 
English Consul. We had letters of introduction 
from one consul to another over the south of 
Spain, from all of whom we met with the greatest 
kindness and attention. There is a large hotel 
being built close to the harbour, which will be a 
great improvement on any accommodation that 
the town can afford at present ; but being on a 
level with the sea, and overlooking a tideless 
harbour, a lengthened residence here would not 
be advisable. On account of the railway being 
open to Madrid from Alicante, it has become of 
much more importance and wealth as a seaport. 

The season was too far advanced at this time 
for us to venture to Madrid, as the cold is very 
intense there in the winter months. We were 
much amused with a semi-imbecile waiter at our 
hotel, the proportions of whose limbs and mind 
were singularly ill developed, his head being of an 
enormous size. He was in love with the cham- 
bermaid, or she had designs upon him, both circum- 
stances so extraordinary, it might be either way. 
Another lover of this nymph of broomsticks looked 



44 



LOYE AKD JEALOUSY. 



in and invited her to accompany him to the cafe 
to be treated : while they were partaking of some 
refreshment, the first lover rushed in with a large 
open knife in his hand, and threatened to cut her 
throat if she did not instantly return with him to 
the hotel ; also demanding the restitution of the 
presents he had given her in moments of weak- 
ness, especially of a certain red cotton dress : the 
neighbours interfered, and with some difficulty 
restored peace. Our Spanish maid was in great 
anxiety as to the future conduct of the parties. 
She was much relieved, a short time after, to see 
that the young lady, mop in hand, had got the 
better of her jealous lover, and was administering 
a severe beating to the imbecile. 

Prom Alicante an easy day's excursion can be 
made to Elche and its palm forests. It is about 
eighteen miles distant. Here the date-palm is 
cultivated for its fruit. It is so profitable that 
they are extending the plantation very much, and 
already there are about ten square miles of it. 
It consists mostly of rows of date-palms surround- 
ing squares of ground about a quarter of an acre 
each, in which corn, lucerne, and pomegranates 
are cultivated. Sometimes the palms form beau- 



THE DATE PALM. 



45 



tiful avenues, with a broad footpath between the 
rows. Many of the trees were from forty to 
fifty feet high. We w r ere fortunate in seeing 
them in great beauty, full of orange-coloured 
fruit almost ripe. The peasants were engaged 
gathering the ripest. They seem to run up the 
tall branchless trees with the greatest facility. 
They use a rope made of the esparto grass, upon 
which they can place the greatest reliance as to 
strength. They enclose themselves and the stem 
of the tree in a large loop, which enables them 
to stand about two feet apart from the tree. 
They then pass this loop across the small of 
their back, and lean against it with their whole 
weight, then jerk their body forward and raise the 
loop about eighteen inches upon the rough stem 
of the palm-tree, and lie well back ; they again 
raise their feet eighteen inches up the stem, so 
that they jerk and step alternately, until they 
arrive at the top of the tree where the fruit 
grows. When there, they continue to lie back 
on the rope by which they ascended, and gather 
the fruit into a basket suspended by a cord from 
their shoulders. The male palm bears a large 
cluster of white flowers which look like carved 



48 



THE PEASANTRY. 



ivory ; these are enclosed in a rich dark-brown 
sheath till they burst forth in November, and form 
a most lovely circle round the head of the palm. 
The female palm bears large clusters of fruit 
from bright orange- coloured stems that break out 
from the head of the palms under the fan-like 
leaves. The barren trees yield a large profit in 
leaves, which, by tying up together, are bleached 
and become a pale straw-colour. They are then 
sold throughout Spain for the processions on. 
Palm Sunday, and they are also hung up against 
houses to prevent the ill effects of lightning. 

The peasants, with their bright striped shirts, 
white linen drawers, red sashes, and little black 
velvet hats, their sheds built of palm-leaves and 
Indian corn, antique-looking earthen jars, the 
norias where mules and donkeys are engaged 
drawing water, all form the most perfect groups 
for a picture. A quantity of dates is now 
exported to England and elsewhere as African 
dates. We were invited to enter a peasant's 
house ; it was beautifully clean, and even taste- 
fully ornamented. They were very civil ; asked 
us to accept of their house, themselves, their all ; 
of course, not meaning us to accept of it. One 



THE KNIFE AKD ITS USE. 



47 



of the party so gained the affection of the mother 
of the family that she presented her with a piece 
of gold leaf the angels had showered down upon 
the Virgin in a procession the last great fete-day. 

The road from Alicante to Elche was most atro- 
cious. We dashed through holes, over long slid- 
ing rocks, through dried beds of rivers ; and some- 
times the road was so destroyed by the late rains 
that we were obliged to drive in the neighbouring 
field, and in again to the road with a tremendous 
jerk that sent our heads to the roof of the car- 
riage. The dust was most stifling, and we looked 
like millers' men. One of our coachmen dropped 
accidentally a strong silver-mounted cuchillo. We 
found they each had one. That belonging to the 
second was a woman's dagger. Upon inquiry we 
found it belonged to the gallant coachman's lady- 
love, who had proved rather a dangerous charac- 
ter, and he had thought it prudent to get pos- 
session of it till she was in a milder mood. The 
evening previous to our arrival at Alicante a man 
had been stabbed to death in the street. He 
himself had on a previous occasion committed the 
same crime. We had two coachmen, one to drive 
the wheelers, the other the leaders, besides a boy 



48 



SOIL AND CLIMATE. 



to run alongside to thrash, and throw stones at 
the mules or horses. The climate of Alicante 
seems excellent. The country around it is barren. 
Where rock does not project through, the soil is 
generally strong grey clay, which in winter, when 
the cereal crops are removed, has a bleak and ugly 
appearance. 



VOYAGE TO MALAGA. 



49 



CHAPTER III. 



On the 2d of December we embarked for Malaga 
at 11 a.m. The weather was like a fine summers 
day in England. We sailed in a Spanish boat 
not particularly clean. The Spanish passengers 
spat like savages even in the cabin. The captain 
was greatly enraged at having been sent away from 
Alicante with cheap bad coal, which proved the 
principal cause of a tedious passage. That evening 
we passed close by Cartagena and Almeria. Both 
places, we were told, are most interesting to visit. 
The following morning we passed Adra, Motril, 
and Velez Malaga. The first range of hills along 
this coast is covered with terraces of vineyards. 
The snowy chain of the Sierra-Nevada ought to 
have been visible, but a thick mist obscured our 
view of it. Near Velez Malaga there is a fine 
bridge or aqueduct, and a cascade falling direct 
into the sea. There are several cotton manufac- 

D 



50 



MALAGA. 



tories here, with their tall chimneys. We entered 
the harbour of Malaga at about seven o'clock in 
the evening, after a thirty-two hours' passage. In 
landing so late we missed the advantage of seeing 
the town from the sea, which is said to be the 
most imposing view of it. 

We shall now proceed to describe Malaga. The 
streets are generally narrow and much crowded ; 
many of the Moorish houses yet remain ; it is, how- 
ever, clean and well kept, and the people on the 
whole are well housed. The Alameda is a broad 
avenue for pedestrians, with two rows of trees and 
seats, and a carriage-road on each side. This runs 
from the port to the river, a distance of about 
three-quarters of a mile. Here are situated all 
the wealthy merchants' houses and the hotels. 
The ground on which the whole of this part of 
the town is built, has been reclaimed from, or 
thrown up by, the sea, within the last two cen- 
turies. The Moorish walls do not enclose this 
part of the town, which is at no great elevation 
above the level of the sea. It has been originally 
ill-drained, and perhaps from the nature of the 
ground would still be difficult to drain well. From 
this cause, and the circumstances of there being 



HOTELS AND ACCOMMODATION. 



51 



no tide in the port at one end, and the river 
being sometimes flooded and sometimes dry at 
the other, the sanitary effect of the otherwise 
charming climate of Malaga is greatly counter- 
acted. The hotels generally are bad, and few in 
number. The Alameda, which is the best house, 
from defective drainage or some such cause, was 
the seat of a large proportion of the cases of 
cholera and fever that occurred during the winter. 
There was a very good suite of rooms at the 
Oriente Hotel, the landlord of which was most 
obliging and civil. At the Victoria Hotel, 
next door to it, there are also some suites of 
rooms to the south. We only heard of one good 
house that w T as let to strangers during the win- 
ter : no other could be met with ; in fact, there is 
very little accommodation here for delicate or re- 
spectable people. It is much to be regretted that 
in such a heavenlv climate, and with the advan- 
tages which will be seen in the sequel, no com- 
modious hotels and villas should be built: in a 
healthy suburb, for example on the road to Gran- 
ada, there are spots on which the most charming 
hotels or villas could be built. In the crowded 
streets of the old town there seem to be no houses 



52 



LIGHT COSTUMES. 



that would accommodate strangers. The climate 
is very mild during the winter ; the thermometer 
ranged from 62° to 70° in our south rooms with- 
out fire. 

We may mention an incident illustrating the 
mildness of this part of Spain. In a village 
about two miles out of the town, we were amused 
with the scanty garments of the children, which 
consisted of a cotton shirt reaching to a little below 
the waist ; we were still more amused at hearing 
that these were their winter garments, and that in 
summer they wore nothing. A benevolent Eng- 
lish lady who resided one summer in this village, 
surprised the children one Sunday morning by 
presenting each with a neat comfortable cotton 
suit, in which they figured with great delight all 
Sunday ; on the following day, however, she saw 
them all turned out again in a state of nature. 
On calling upon some of the mothers, they told 
her that they were extremely obliged to her for 
her kindness, but they could be no party to such 
extravagance as allowing the children to continue 
to wear them, and they contemplated turning them 
to better account. 

The Alameda is a fashionable promenade on 



SCENERY OF THE VICINITY. 



53 



fete-days and festivals, and some handsome car- 
riages appear on the drive around it ; in fact, 
carriages are much confined to the town, as most 
of the roads are only passable a short distance 
out of it. Divine service is performed in the 
house of the English Vice-Consul : it is most 
admirably and efficiently conducted by a highly 
esteemed clergyman. Nothing can exceed the 
civility, kindness, and attention of the English 
consul to his countrymen who visit Malaga. Al- 
though the drives are circumscribed, the rides are 
varied and interesting, amongst vine-clad hills, 
peasants' farms, and the threshing-floors and yards 
for drying the far-famed Malaga raisins. These 
yards are placed on a slope facing the sun; they 
are about forty feet long and fifteen broad, sur- 
rounded by a wall a foot high. The inside of this 
is strewn with sand, and divided into compart- 
ments by narrow footpaths, between which the 
bunches of grapes are laid to dry, after being pre- 
viously allowed to wither a little, by having the 
stalk half cut through on the parent stem before 
being gathered. They require from ten to four- 
teen days to dry ; they are then packed in boxes 
and sent to the merchants in the town of Malaga. 



54 



COSTUMES OF PEASANTRY. 



The peasants ride from their homes on the 
neighbouring hills to transact business, and to 
attend the market, on smart little Andalusian 
horses. The men are good-looking, and gaily 
dressed in regular Spanish costume; and they are 
always armed with a rifle, which is hung by their 
side. Their costume is very becoming : a black 
velvet jacket, ornamented with bunches of silver 
buttons; a red sash, in which is placed the cuchillo 
or knife ; tight -fitting knee-breeches of some 
bright colour ; leather gaiters beautifully stitched 
in patterns, and laced up with leather tags ; 
and a little round hat, the foundation of which 
is made of wood and covered with black felt, 
the brim turned up all round, and covered with 
black velvet ; two round tufts of silk are placed at 
the side. The horses are as well got up as their 
riders. The saddles are large, and have a high 
pommel in front ; over these is thrown a leather 
saddle-cloth embroidered with worsted, trimmed 
round with a deep fringe, and large tassels at the 
four corners — the head-gear much ornamented 
with fringes, tassels, and bells. We were told 
that the Andalusians spend much money upon 
their dress ; a full costume for fete-days will often 



THE CATHEDRAL. 



55 



cost from £20 to £30. They will deny them- 
selves even necessaries of life to obtain it. In 
the Calle de las Cainas there are excellent shops 
for mule and horse trappings, and also for mantas 
and gaiters. 

The churches at Malaga are uninteresting. The 
Cathedral is an enormous building of unsightly 
architecture, which looks too large for the sur- 
rounding town ; the interior is very capacious. On 
Christmas Eve we were present at the midnight 
mass ; the Cathedral was brilliantly lighted up, 
and a band of music, mostly composed of violins, 
played several pieces of beautiful music, princi- 
pally from operas. At 1 a.m., the mass being 
concluded, the organ pealed forth, and imitated 
successively an infant's cry, the cock's crow, the 
donkey's bray, and the ox's low. We saw a smile 
on many faces. It was profane, and painful to 
our feelings. In returning at 2 a.m. to our 
hotel we found the streets crowded, many parties 
singing The Shepherds' Hymn very sweetly, ac- 
companied by guitars and tambourines. All was 
decorous, and we saw no appearance of drunken- 
ness. 

We went one day to hear a sermon addressed 



56 



SPANISH SERMONS. 



in particular to young women. The priest gave 
them much good advice, and said, "Good conduct 
would adorn them much more than finery in 
dress ; it would not only be more pleasing to the 
Almighty, but would also be much more admired 
by the young men/' On another occasion we 
went to hear a sermon, where the priest began by 
inviting very particularly the attention of his 
audience, and said if they would listen attentively, 
he would give them twenty days' indulgence. The 
Roman Church in Spain is very despotic and in- 
tolerant ; the civil law of the country even is much 
more lenient. The Church exercises great control, 
if not over the press, over those who write for the 
press, and the whole population are subjected 
to the confessional. We heard that young men 
complain that they are obliged to confess, other- 
wise means are taken to greatly prejudice mothers 
and daughters against them. 

We visited the jail, containing about 330 in- 
mates; the majority were men, but a large num- 
ber both of men and women were incarcerated for 
cases of stabbing. People here all carry long An- 
dalusian knives, and avenge themselves on slight 
provocation. Justice in Spain is easily avoided ; 



SPANISH JUSTICE. 



57 



a Spaniard told us that the balance always fell 
to the side where there was gold. Besides 
which, he said, "If there was no assassination 
or stabbing, what would become of the priests 
and lawyers'?" Many of their quarrels are from 
jealousy, and originate at their dances. We saw 
some fandango-dancing on the sea-shore. At 
Christmas the town population pic-nic by the sea- 
side, and each little party has a basket of provi- 
sions, a guitar and castanets. They dance fan- 
dangos w r ith a great deal of attitudinising and 
gesture. When a handsome woman dances, those 
who are captivated by her charms throw their 
hats at her feet. We first saw one or two young 
women who created no sensation ; at last, rather a 
handsome girl stood up, and she had not danced 
many minutes surrounded by her friends and her 
rivals, when a shower of hats were pitched at her 
feet. Her triumph was almost too great for hu- 
man nature. She was much overpowered by her 
blushes for some minutes ; at last she recovered 
herself, and went on in triumph. The custom of 
throwing hats at the feet of a handsome woman 
is not confined to the dance ; our Spanish maid, 
although no longer in her teens, was a handsome 



58 



THE BRIGAND'S FATE. 



woman, and generally so complete in her costume 
that she attracted admiration, and on several oc- 
casions we saw a hat pitched at her feet accom- 
panied by a pretty speech, with which she was not 
a little gratified. She was not fond of our being 
present at the fandango-dancing, as quarrels some- 
times ensue, and she hurried our return home. Her 
fears were not groundless, for, about an hour after, 
a young man was carried into the town mortally 
wounded. 

On one occasion we were shown a lone posada 
resorted to by muleteers, where a few years ago a 
desperate struggle and fight had taken place. It 
happened that two farmers came from the country 
to sell sheep at a fair ; when they had realised 
their cash by the sale of their flocks, a desperate 
brigand acquaintance wished, whether they would 
or not, to have the money from them in loan, 
which they absolutely refused. On the evening 
of the same day he came to them at this little 
inn, shut himself up into the same room, and 
declared that if they did not hand over the money 
to him he would put them to death on the spot. 
He had mistaken his men : all carry knives in 
Spain ; these were soon brought out on this occa- 



THE FRUITS OF MALAGA. 



59 



sion. The two men rushed upon him, fortunately 
proved victorious, and in self-defence put him 
to death. The police got wind of it, but the 
men refused to deliver themselves up or remove 
a barricade at the door until the Governor of 
Malaga should be present, to whom they said 
they were prepared to surrender. The Governor 
was sent for, and soon came to the posada; he 
heard their case, received their explanations on 
the spot, pronounced it justifiable homicide, and 
the men were allowed to return to their homes. 

There is a Plaza de Toros or amphitheatre 
here for bull-fights, but it is a poor building, and 
there was no bull-fight during our stay. There 
is a very large cafe (La Sueza) for the million, 
where tea, coffee, or ice, with newspapers, music, 
and company, can be had for the small sum of 
2^d., or one real Spanish. It is an institution 
much to be admired, 

We arrived in Malaga too late for its far-famed 
grapes, or most varieties of its fruits. We had 
pomegranates, quinces, oranges, dates in abun- 
dance, and most kinds of provisions seemed suffi- 
ciently abundant. During the summer the inha- 
bitants eat large quantities of the prickly pear, 



60 



TURKEYS AND RAISINS. 



which grows here in every direction. At Christ- 
mas, large flocks of turkeys were driven in hun- 
dreds into the town by peasants, with long bam- 
boo-canes in their hands. It was said that every 
family who could afford it had a turkey for din- 
ner on Christmas Day. In the hotel we had 
abundance for a week before and a week after. 

Malaga raisins are worthy of their renown ; 
one merchant, to whom w r e had an introduction, 
said he had exported four hundred thousand boxes, 
each containing from twenty-three to twenty-five 
pounds weight of raisins ; this is one-third of the 
whole annual exportation from this place. It is 
a curious instance of the w r ant of integrity in 
Spain, that these boxes are all received from the 
growers as containing twenty-five pounds weight, 
but they are invariably about two pounds short 
of the full w r eight. Our friend told us he could 
only trade with the people by winking at this 
deception. 

We witnessed an amusing scene here. On the 
anniversary of the day on which some revolution- 
ists had been executed, about thirty years since, 
for demanding concessions from government that 
have since been granted, there was a procession to 



OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA. 



61 



the graves of these poor men, whom they con- 
sidered martyrs. This liberal party filled half-a- 
dozen carriages ; but in order to render the pro- 
cession as imposing as possible, they were preceded 
by a mounted trumpeter in gold lace and scarlet, 
with a cocked-hat and gold-headed mace. This 
is evidently an old Spanish fashion which must 
have been known to our ancestors ; no doubt 
many of our beaux and belles must regret that it 
has become obsolete. Young men in long beards 
or short kilts, and young ladies in small hats or 
large crinolines, might double the sensation they 
create if they were allowed the advantage of a 
trumpeter in front. 

During the month of June 1860 cholera had 
visited Malaga, and prevailed to some extent for 
six weeks, and then for a time disappeared, until 
Sunday the 10th of August, when a heavy cloud 
and fog hung over the town during the day and 
succeeding night : most wonderful to relate, it 
was found next morning that there had been about 
eight hundred cases of cholera during the night ; 
of these, forty-eight proved fatal the first day, 
and forty the second day ; a few cases were after- 
wards fatal ; and the malady was then said to 



62 



START FOR GIBRALTAR. 



have disappeared. The authorities are very sen- 
sitive on this point, and although Malaga is re- 
puted to be the most unhealthy Spanish port in 
the Mediterranean, they continue, if possible, to 
have it understood that their port is free from 
infectious diseases. For example, when an English 
gentleman died there during our residence, being 
an M.P., the Consul wished to telegraph to the 
English government that he had died of cholera ; 
but the Governor would not allow this to be done, 
and insisted on his only telegraphing that he had 
died suddenly. In the beginning of January, so 
many of our friends were taken ill of cholera and 
fever that we took alarm. Some of our party 
went to Gibraltar and some to Granada. 

On the 8th of January, the party going to 
Gibraltar were told to lose no time, but to secure 
berths on board a good Spanish steam-boat that 
was to sail for Algeciras at five o'clock in the 
afternoon, and reach that place at five the follow- 
ing morning, in time to catch the morning boat 
from Algeciras to Gibraltar. We got ready in a 
hurry and went down to the pier at the appointed 
hour, but we found that we might return to the 
hotel again, as the steamer would not sail till nine 



SPANISH DECEPTIONS. 



63 



at night. When we lamented the chance of 
missing the boat from Algeciras to Gibraltar next 
morning, we were assured it was of little conse- 
quence, as we should catch the afternoon boat, 
and land at Gibraltar at a very convenient hour. 
On our appearing again at the pier at nine o'clock, 
the boatmen all required to be paid double, be- 
cause they had been twice in attendance. This 
is quite after the fashion of Spain. We sailed 
before morning, and had a smooth passage, and 
reached Algeciras at 2 p.m., where we were 
told on the best authority that we had been de- 
ceived, for that no afternoon steamer had sailed 
from that port for Gibraltar for many months. 
We lingered from 2 till 4 p.m. in vain endea- 
vours to find a good sailing-boat. It was now 
considered too late to reach Gibraltar before gun- 
fire ; we were consequently obliged to sleep at 
Algeciras in a third-rate inn, and to cross by the 
steamer next morning before breakfast, having 
been detained thirty-six hours on a voyage that a 
good English steamer would have performed in 
eight. 

The view of Gibraltar from the sea is very 
beautiful and picturesque. On landing, we were 



64 



GIBE ALT AE. 



struck with, the substantial fortifications, the 
beautiful state of the roads, the cleanliness of the 
town, and the large and burly forms of the artil- 
lerymen. We looked around us with great satis- 
faction. The Rock of Gibraltar is about two 
miles and a half long, by half a mile broad. 
There is a low shelf along the whole west side, 
from twenty to fifty feet high, on the northern 
end of which the town is built ; the rest is occu- 
pied by barracks, parade-ground, gardens, and 
officers' quarters. The top of the rock is 1450 
feet high. The whole place is in beautiful order, 
and bristling with artillery in every direction. 
The duties of the military are as strict as during 
war. After dark or gun-fire, the sentinels fire 
without ceremony on any boat that moves within 
reach. The surface of the rock is mostly covered 
with loose stones and decomposed rock, out of 
which springs an abundant variety of trees, shrubs, 
and flowers ; the palmetto is very abundant. Eagles 
are sometimes seen, and the red-legged partridge, 
the linnet and goldfinch, abound. No shooting 
is allowed on the rock. There are also still some 
monkeys, but they are only to be seen early in 
the morning ; during the day, they go to the high 



THE CONVENT GARDEN. 



65 



sheltered and sunny crevices of the rocks, but 
during the night they are fond of robbing orchards, 
like monkeys at home, and venture down amongst 
those around the town. It is believed that in 
consequence many have been poisoned, and hence 
the smallness of their number. There are also 
some foxes on the rock ; a sergeant of one of the 

i i 

regiments told us that the sentries at Catlin Bay 
said they frequently saw them on a fine summer's 
morning taking a swim in the sea. The Alameda, 
a parade-ground just outside the town, is well 
wooded with stone-pines, carob or locust trees, 
and olives. It is one of the most beautiful ter- 
races in Europe, and commands an enchanting 
view of Algeciras, the Strait of Gibraltar, and 
the African coast and mountains. 

One of the sights of Gibraltar is the beautiful 
garden attached to the residence of the Governor, 
which is called the Convent. In it are one or two 
fine date-palm trees, which, however, do not 
mature their fruit in consequence of their vicinity 
to the sea. The banana, a lower-growing plant, 
owing to the protection afforded by the walls, 
ripens its fruit, which is to be seen hanging in 
clusters. There are some large orange - trees, 

E 



66 



THE DRAGON^ BLOOD PALM. 



which, in the winter time, are covered with white 
blossom, and fill the air with perfume. Against 
the house, there is a Brazilian creeper, called 
Bugainvillaea, which is one of the most gorgeous 
plants imaginable ; it was a complete mass of rich 
colour, something between magenta and maroon. 
There are other rare plants in the garden, which 
is a most enjoyable spot ; but the grand sight 
and admiration of botanists is the dragon's-blood 
palm ; it is about thirty feet high, haying a stem 
of twenty feet. It is supposed to be more than 
a thousand years old, and to have been planted 
by the monks on this spot, which was for many 
centuries their garden. In the month of February 
it was covered with large clusters of dark orange- 
coloured berries, which were not food for man, 
but could not have been poisonous, seeing that a 
large flock of sparrows were busily engaged in 
eating them daily. 

There are various singular and extensive caverns 
in the rock, or more properly mountain, of Gibral- 
tar. At the south, near the residence of the Chief 
Justice, there are some that have only been partly 
explored, and these seem to have communication 
with the sea. In one of these, lately discovered 



st Michael's caye. 



67 



from above, was found the skeleton of a human be- 
ing, with the skull on the hand, indicating that some 
unfortunate mariner, in times long gone by, had 
here found a resting place more terrible than a 
watery grave. First amongst the caves that are well 
known is St Michael's, which, although standing 
nearly a thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
is rendered magnificent by its stalactite pillars and 
beautiful white incrustation, deposited on all sides 
of the rock by the dropping of water which leaves 
this deposit. The entrance to it is low and narrow, 
and consequently the cave cannot be well seen 
without considerable trouble and expense in arti- 
ficial light. On hearing one day that the officers 
of the royal artillery intended to light up the 
cave for a party of friends, we signified our great 
desire to join, and we were kindly invited to be 
of the party. After a severe climb on a very hot 
day in February, we reached the mouth of the 
cave, where a large merry party of gentlemen and 
ladies, young and old, had assembled. Some 
steps had been cut in the earth and mud at the 
mouth of the cave, and these again had been 
covered with palmetto leaves, in order to keep the 
ladies' boots dry. The ladies descended each with 



68 



st Michael's caye. 



the hand or the arm of a gentleman, down these 
sloping steps for about twenty feet to the. bottom 
of the cave, which then stretched away horizon- 
tally. The interior is very grand, about forty or 
fifty feet high. On the right hand was a fine 
stalactite pillar resembling a date-palm, which 
reached to the roof ; a second pillar looked like a 
gigantic monument. The cave was magnificently 
lighted up with coloured lights, which were scien- 
tifically managed by some men of the artillery, 
and the effect was very striking. Further to the 
right was a second cave, which resembled the 
chapter-house of a cathedral. The stalactites, 
suspended from the roof, appeared like the arches 
in the Alhambra. It is singular, at such a height 
above the level of the sea, that this cave should 
be completely drenched with filtering water. Very 
extensive caves of difficult access are said to branch 
away from this one. Some years ago, an Engineer 
officer, in spite of the water, mud, and intricate pas- 
sages, endeavoured to explore them, and led a party 
of men who contrived to crawl upon their hands 
and knees a considerable distance : finally, the offi- 
cer stuck so fast that he was with great difficulty 
extricated by his men, with the assistance of ropes. 



SOLDIEES' HOME! 



69 



An interesting sight at Gibraltar is a soldiers' 
home or club. This has been lately established 
by a philanthropic Artillery officer. It is a large 
and commodious house of several stories. There 
are coffee-rooms, reading and writing rooms, a 
lecture-room, billiard-room, with tables arranged 
in it for chess, draughts, and other such games. 
There were upwards of 3000 subscribers at one 
penny each a-week. Breakfast with tea or coffee, 
bread, butter, and eggs, costs threepence. The 
whole was most orderly, and highly appreciated 
by the men. The authorities are so satisfied 
with its success, that they have intimated their 
intention of repaying its founder several hundred 
pounds which he had expended in establishing it. 

Good hotels and good houses are the only 
things wanting in Gibraltar : a large family find 
great difficulty in getting lodged. From Gibral- 
tar many interesting excursions can be made. The 
ride to the cork wood has an endless charm. The 
garrison keep a subscription pack of fox-hounds. 
We believe the association with English sport is 
more charming than the reality, for the ground is 
very rough, and the sport is said to r be indifferent 
as compared with English hunting. Another 



70 VISIT TO TANGIER, 

favourite excursion is to Ronda : it is romantically 
beautiful, has a grand annual fair, and is cele- 
brated for its bull-fights. 

San Roque, only seven miles from Gibraltar, is 
a prettily situated town on the way to the cork 
wood. There is a good carriage-road to it, and a 
comfortable house for a large family might be had 
at a moderate rent. The climate is delightful. 

Perhaps the most interesting excursion of all 
is to Tangier, on the African coast. Our kind 
naval and military friends put it in our power to 
make the trip in a small government steamer. 
We sailed after breakfast, and in three hours 
arrived there. We spent the night in Africa, and 
returned the next afternoon. On reaching the 
African coast, we found there w r as no pier. 
Robust odorous Arabs stood up to their waists in 
the water ready to carry us through the surf 
hoisted upon chairs, each person being supported 
between two bearers ; in this way we reached the 
sandy beach.. We passed through hundreds of 
idle people, and under a gateway into the main 
street of the town. Here was novelty indeed ■! — 
society in its most primitive and rude state, such 
as could hardly have existed in Europe for the 



TANGIEK. 



71 



last thousand years. It may be said there are no 
streets ; there are zig-zag alleys between the 
houses, and perfect kennels of dirt ; we saw two 
dead cats and other enormities in them. About 
one fourth of the population appeared to be black, 
perhaps another fourth half-caste, a fourth Jews, 
and the remaining fourth handsome large fine- 
looking Moors, scarcely darker than Europeans. 
The houses appear comfortable inside ; the roofs 
are flat and commodious, with a parapet, and are 
the usual resort of all the inmates as the sun goes 
down. The beasts of burden here are mostly 
camels. Everything bespeaks a different quarter 
of the globe. The town of Tangier is built on 
two hills ; the one nearest the sea is crowned by 
the alcazar (the castle) and the palace of the 
emperor's brother ; narrow, steep, winding streets 
cross the hollow to the second hill, where are the 
bazaar, the mosques, the Jews' houses, and the 
market-place. 

The mosques have square towers ornamented 
with green and white tiles ; on the top is a narrow 
minaret surmounted by a flag- staff, upon which a 
colour is run up to announce to the world below the 
hour of prayer ; at the same time a man from the 



72 



A TANGIER LAW CASE. 



roof near the minaret proclaims the hour, and calls 
them to prayer. Formerly all were obliged to 
discontinue their work and kneel down and pray ; 
this is now no longer obligatory. 

We ascended, and visited the Governor's castle. 
On our way, two wild-looking men rushed up past 
us, reviling each other, and on our arrival at the 
courtyard we found the Deputy-Governor sitting 
on his heels on the step of the stair at his door, 
hearing the case of these disputants. The two 
men knelt before him and spoke alternately ; he 
looked stern and sensible. He was a middle-aged 
man of fine countenance. He heard all they had 
to say, and gave judgment in a brief sentence. 
When he had done so, the disputants jumped up, 
one walked away quietly, apparently the success- 
ful pleader, the other tossed his arms wildly in 
the air, and shouted as if he were a lost man. 

In the courtyard were picketed about a dozen 
of the emperor's cavalry horses, poor miserable 
beasts ; they appeared more suited for sand-carts 
than to carry a trooper. The military were not 
distinguished from the civilians, excepting by a 
high-peaked red cap like a strawberry pottle. 
They had greatly the advantage over the horses, 



THE GOVERNOR'S CASTLE. 



73 



for they appeared to be handsome, tall, powerful 
men. The governor was absent, but some of his 
wives and children were there. We entered the 
castle bj a fine Moorish gateway, with the re- 
mains of Arabic tracery and inscriptions, still 
beautiful, but much disfigured by whitewash ; the 
inlaid wood of the roof was much injured. In 
this gateway on stone seats sat two fine-looking 
Moors, d la Turque, writing orders. The patio is 
large, and paved with green, blue, black, and 
yellow tiles. We saw the governors sleeping 
apartment, arranged luxuriously with rugs and 
carpets ; purple and scarlet silk robes were hung 
from nails in the wall ; a sword, bell, inkstand, 
and other nicknacks lay on a richly inlaid mother- 
of-pearl and tortoiseshell table, raised about a 
foot from the ground, and placed by the side of 
the couch and rugs. We went into the baker's 
department, entering out of the same patio ; four 
jet black women were sitting on their heels round 
a very low circular table, kneading the dough in 
large flat china basins ; it seemed strange not to 
see the dough turn black in passing through 
their fingers. They grinned and smiled most 
good-humouredly, and pointed to two other black 



74 



THE GOVEKNOR's WIFE. 



women who were nursing two polished jet-black 
babies, and seemed to wish we should admire 
them. Several other youthful specimens were 
running in and out. They wore scanty red 
flannel dresses tied tightly round their necks, 
and with very short sleeves, which showed to 
advantage their round black arms. With some 
difficulty we persuaded the inmates to let us see 
one of the governor s wives. We were shown into 
a long narrow chamber, destitute of furniture, 
save a few rugs opposite the door, and a charcoal 
brazier, with a dish of vegetables simmering in 
an earthen jar upon it. Near the brazier stood 
a tall slight Moorish woman, who on seeing us 
fled, like a frightened hare, into a dark corner, 
covering the lower part of her face with the folds 
of muslin that were hanging round her like a veil. 
We could only see a pair of dark eyes gleaming 
at us, but they were promising of beauty. As 
we could not converse with her, we bowed and 
retired. 

In the afternoon we were taken by a kind 
friend to the palace of the emperor's brother, and 
presented to him. He lived in a dilapidated 
palace near the alcazar ; the entrance to it is 



THE EMPEROR'S BROTHER. 



75 



through a narrow Moorish gateway, where some 
fine-looking Arab guards were placed. The 
patio was full of orange -trees and flowering 
shrubs. A black usher and a handsome Moor 
were in attendance. The usher went to announce 
our arrival ; and soon after, we were told to 
ascend the stairs and enter the prince's suite of 
apartments. At one side of a patio and under 
an alcove sat Muley Abbas, brother and viceroy 
of the Emperor of Morocco, not on a rug or otto- 
man, as we expected, but in an arm-chair. He 
is a fine-looking man, about forty-five years of 
age ; his complexion is dark, but not black. He 
wore a rich blue dress, much embroidered with 
gold, a white turban, and many yards of gauze- 
like white muslin folded round him, here and 
there showing the rich dress beneath. He was 
very polite to us, shook hands with us, and, 
through the medium of the friend who presented 
us, made a few civil speeches, after which we 
retired. It was a strange scene of mingled gran- 
deur and dilapidation. 

The bazaar is a street with open shops a 
either side. Each shop has a wide shelf all rounc 
it. On the side next to the street either one o 



76 



THE BAZAAR. 



two Moors sit a la Turque, with all their goods 
on the shelves around them ; they hand these 
down to their customers without moving from 
their seats. There is a wooden shutter which is 
let down during the day, and forms a kind of 
table ; at night it is raised and locked ; the only 
entrance is through the open window, which is 
about three feet from the level of the street. 
The only articles we saw of native manufacture 
were finely engraved and painted brass trays, 
embroidered shoes and slippers, and some long 
Moorish guns ; we bought some of the former, 
but the long gun-barrels were too clumsy to 
carry off. 

When we were making our purchases in the 
bazaar, the crowd suddenly opened, and, to our 
horror, we saw a criminal who had committed 
murder undergoing his sentence, led by two sol- 
diers. Immediately behind him w 7 as a third sol- 
dier, M r ith a knotted rope in his hand. The man 
was stripped to his waist, his hands were tied 
cross his breast, his back was purple and stream- 
ig with blood, his countenance was pale and 
ill of agony ; he was to be taken from jail 
eekly, and to receive four hundred lashes each 



A JEWISH PAKTY. 



77 



time until he died. This scene haunted us for 
days after. 

We were fortunate in soon observing a more 
pleasing incident. The Jews are rich here, and 
have handsome houses and live in comfort. The 
Jewesses are very handsome, and are not darker 
than Englishwomen. They have fine dark eyes, 
and singularly pencilled eyebrows, with delicate 
features. We were taken to see a party which 
had assembled at one of these houses, to celebrate 
with music and feasting the performance of a 
domestic religious ceremony. The family, with 
numerous relations and friends, were congregated 
in a small room richly furnished ; on the bed at 
one end of it reclined a handsome Jewess with 
her infant by her side. She wore a gold hand- 
kerchief folded round her head, and fastened on 
the forehead with a golden ornament ; two long 
sprays of jewels hung down at each side of her 
face. She wore long earrings and a splendid neck- 
lace ; her robe was black, with gold and crimson 
trimming. Another very lovely and gorgeously 
dressed Jewess sat on a rich carpet in the centre 
of the room, surrounded by friends both male and 
female. They had instruments of music, and ap- 



78 



FAREWELL TO TANGIER. 



peared to be chanting a sort of hymn. Trays of 
sweetmeats were handed about amongst the guests. 

We also visited another Jewess who lived in a 
very comfortable house, the patio of which w r as 
beautifully clean, and prettily paved with coloured 
tiles, and had a fountain playing in the centre. 
The lady of the house showed us into her receiving 
room, said she felt much honoured by our visit, 
and made us sit down and rest. She wore a black 
silk robe embroidered with crimson silk, and on 
her head a scarlet and gold handkerchief fastened 
in front with a large gold brooch. 

We were very sorry not to be able to spend 
another day at Tangier, but we were obliged to 
return with our steamer before dark. The anchor- 
age is not good in the Bay of Tangier, and we had 
to reach the steamer in a small boat that was 
knocked about by the surf. Each of the party 
was carried into the boat on a chair supported on 
each side by Moors ; on reaching the stern of the 
boat, they suddenly raised the chair in front, which 
caused the feet to be carried over the edge, and 
as suddenly lowering it, the party was shot for- 
ward on their feet, or on all-fours, as the chance 
might be. 



EETUEN TO GIBE ALT A K. 79 



Running out from the point at the foot of the 
walls of Tangier, is a long ridge of half-sunken 
rocks, over which the angry waves were surging 
and boiling. "We had to row close to these in 
order to avoid the swell, which gave a feeling of 
insecurity and danger, the more so as our bare- 
legged Moors kept up a chattering argument as to 
our best course, thereby neglecting their oars, and 
causing the boat to waver from side to side. It 
was a great relief at last, to find ourselves by the 
side of our trim little government steamer, and 
still greater, when on board, to see the quiet 
steady English sailors doing their work without 
comment or hurry. Notwithstanding a head 
wind, in three hours and a half we landed at 
Gibraltar. 



80 



FROM MALAGA TO GRANADA. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Two of our party who went to Granada engaged 
the coupe of the diligence that left Malaga at 4 
p.m. on the lOthof January, and reached Granada 
at noon next day, a drive of nineteen hours. The 
fare is twenty-five pesetas, or about £1 English, 
for each seat ; but having to travel all night, it was 
found advantageous to take the third seat in the 
coupe, to give more room, and to prevent the pos- 
sibility of being incommoded by a disagreeable 
fellow-passenger. Having to ascend to a great 
height soon after leaving Malaga, we had fourteen 
mules to our diligence. The road circled and 
wound up the mountain, over a red clay soil, 
where aloes, prickly pears, and vines were the sole 
produce of the otherwise bare hills. Looking 
back towards the south, the view was very grand • 
Malaga appeared immediately below us. At the 
summit, as the light failed us, we were met by an 



THE YEGA OF GRANADA. 



81 



armed guard, who mounted the diligence, and pro- 
ceeded with us for our protection during the 
night. After passing the first high chain of hills, 
we entered wild valleys of bare rocks, at whose 
base were chestnut groves, and soon after we 
began to descend to the beautifully situated town 
of Loja, with its ruined Moorish castle and church 
standing on an eminence. Here we were re- 
freshed with a cup of chocolate and a roll of 
bread. At daylight we entered the rich Vega or 
plain of Granada, where we soon came in sight of 
the Sierra-Nevada towards the south, and on the 
other hand the Elvira hills. The floods of Decem- 
ber had left marked traces ; half of the town of 
Santa Fe had been utterly destroyed ; houses had 
been carried away, and banks of mud left in their 
stead. The road had been cleared of the debris 
of the river Xenil which traverses this plain. 

We were now in sight of the hill of the Alham- 
bra and the town of Granada. This distant view 
of it is not imposing, but it becomes more striking 
as we approach. We entered the town of Granada 
with its Moorish towers, gateways, and narrow 
streets, and its wild-looking population, and passed 
on to the Alameda Hotel near the junction of the 

F 



82 



HOTELS IN GRANADA. 



rivers Darro and Xenil. Here there is a good view 
of the Alameda and the Sierra-Nevada beyond. 
The far famed Alhambra is a mile and a half from 
the town; and having heard that the hotels there 
were comfortable though primitive, we preferred 
their locality to those in the town, and immediately 
proceeded thither. We were fortunate in finding 
clean neat rooms in the Fonda de los Siete Suelos, 
at the foot of one of the Alhambra towers. The 
Fonda Ortiz, opposite, is equally good, and both 
are moderate in their charges. This was not the 
season in which travellers usually venture into this 
high district; but fearing we might not be able to 
visit it later, we had determined to brave the 
cold. The nights were chilly, the thermometer 
varying from 46° to 50° in the house; but during 
the day the sun was hot. There is one advantage 
at this season, namely, that the snowy range of 
the Sierra is seen in great beauty. 

It is not easy to describe the Alhambra, or 
enter into particulars as to each individual part 
of its extensive courts, towers, gateways, &c. In 
Ford's Spain, a most excellent historical account 
is given of it ; also in the romantic volumes of 
Washington Irving's Conquest of Granada, and 



THE ALHAMBRA. 



83 



his Tales of the Alhambra. The Alhambra is 
built on a spur of the Sierra-Nevada, as Ford 
describes it, in the form of a grand piano, the 
narrow end being turned towards the town of 
Granada, and overlooking it. The whole of this 
is enclosed by the red towers and walls of the 
Alhambra. In ascending from the town we 
passed through the gateway de las Granadas, 
built by Charles V. : passing through this, three 
paths diverge ; that to the right leads to the red 
towers; the centre walk leads through the avenue 
of elms to the public gardens ; the third turns to 
the left, and leads to the principal entrance of 
the Alhambra, the Torre de Jasticia. It is a 
tall, red gateway ; over the outer horse-shoe arch 
over the door is carved an open hand, the emblem 
of hospitality ; over the inner arch a key is 
carved, the symbol of power. Passing through 
this gateway, we entered a narrow lane, leading 
past the Torre del vino to the Plaza de los 
Algebes, under which are the Moorish cisterns, 
still in daily use. This plaza separates the Torre 
de la Vela from the Alhambra and Charles 
V.'s most ill-placed, unfinished palace. From the 
Torre de la Vela the view of the Vega and the 



84 



THE ALHAMBRA. 



surrounding mountains at sunset is glorious. The 
entrance to the Alhambra, where the porter re- 
sides, is by the side of Charles V/s palace. On 
entering the courts and corridors, the marble 
pillars and arches, the honeycomb ceilings, are 
a perfect bewilderment of beauty. The soft, 
creamy tint of the elegant tracery, and the bril- 
liant touches of gilding, are most lovely. The 
Ambassador s Hall is magnificent ; through its 
deeply-recessed open windows are seen the distant 
mountains, the river Darro, the hill covered with 
cactus and aloes, amongst which you see the 
caverns of the gypsies and the Moorish palace el 
Generalife, the palace to which the Moors who 
became Christians retired after their expulsion 
from the Alhambra. The court of Lions is like 
carved ivory, and is very beautiful ; but its foun- 
tain, although of respectable Moorish origin, is 
most ungraceful. Its lumpy lions look sullen 
and out of character with the fairy-like corridors 
around them. The mosque and Mihrab (the 
sanctuary where the Koran was formerly hung) 
are very beautiful and richly ornamented. In a 
recess in the Sala de Justicia is a splendid china 
vase about five feet high ; it has an Arabic 



THE GENERALIFE. 



85 



inscription upon it, and some quaint figures, half 
birds, half beasts. One handle has unfortunately 
been broken off. It was found by the Spaniards, 
after the expulsion of the Moors, full of gold dust 
out of the Darro. The Infanta's Towers, and the 
small mosque in a garden near, are well worth a 
yisit. 

So much mischief has been done by unprin- 
cipled visitors breaking off the stucco tracery and 
carrying off porcelain tiles as reminiscences, that 
an order has been given by the governor not to 
allow any one to go through the Alhambra without 
a guide. We, however, gained the confidence of 
the principal guide, who allowed us, during our 
stay of a fortnight, to wander about it alone, 
which added greatly to the charm and enjoyment 
of its beauties. 

The Generalife, the palace of Boabdil's son, is 
about half a mile distant. Its fine old cypress 
avenue leads up to the entrance of a fanciful 
garden. The water from the Darro here flows 
through numberless streams to irrigate the garden ; 
it is then carried across a ravine by a fine aque- 
duct into the Alhambra, where it supplies innu- 
merable streams, tanks, and fountains. There 



86 RESTORATION OF THE ALHAMBRA. 

are some fine ceilings and arabesque tracery in 
the Generalife Palace ; the view from it over- 
looking the Alhambra is very beautiful. 

During the present winter, and for some years 
past, the Alhambra has been undergoing resto- 
ration under the charge of Senor Contreras, a 
Spaniard. It is admirably done ; the new addi- 
tions are scarcely to be distinguished from the 
old Moorish work. There is yet much to accom- 
plish in order even to preserve what is left. 
Senor Contreras has made casts in plaster, which 
give the most perfect idea of the colour and 
delicate tracery of many of the most beautiful 
bits. Some large models of the interior of the 
Alhambra have been sent to Russia by Senor 
Contreras to be exhibited at St Petersburg at 
the expected exhibition of 1862. We also met 
Monsieur Bachan, a Russian artist, who, with a 
friend, was making paintings of the coloured tiles, 
stucco tracery, roofs, &c, for the same exhibition. 
M. Bachan is a first-rate artist; his views of the 
cathedrals and architectural subjects in Spain 
are beautifully and carefully executed ; also his 
costumes of the peasantry are most accurate. 

The neighbourhood of Granada is full of in- 



THE GYPSIES' QUARTER. 



87 



terest. We paid the gypsies' quarter a visit. 
The view from it of the Alhambra is fine. In 
sketching it, we were surrounded by specimens 
of rich-coloured gypsy women, with shining coal- 
black hair and polished mahogany-tinted skins. 
They wore apricot-coloured flannel skirts, trimmed 
with dark crimson cloth vandyked, black velvet 
boddices, green plaid shawls, and, round their 
heads, red handkerchiefs. They were fit studies 
for an artist. The men were tall and powerful, 
dark and dangerous-looking. They scowled at 
us from under their slouched hats. Their dress 
resembled the Spanish majo costume, rich brown 
predominating in the colour of the cloth of their 
apparel. The children, imps worthy of such 
parents, peered and peeped from every hole and 
corner concealed by cactus and aloes, and shriek- 
ed out ill words at us. The men and women 
begged incessantly, and soon became so trouble- 
some and importunate that we were obliged to 
retreat with half-finished sketches. 

It requires great temper and patience to sketch 
in any part of Spain. The people are so uncivil- 
ised, and so full of child-like curiosity, that they 
collect around one ; even peasants passing on 



88 



SKETCHING IN SPAIN. 



horseback stop, dismount, and lead tlieir horses 
up to the circle gathered round any person sketch- 
ing. They talk most yolubly to each other, make 
observations as to your object and intentions, 
examine minutely your paper, pencils, and dress, 
ask innumerable questions, and being unaccus- 
tomed to truthful answers, generally conceive that 
you have been endeavouring to lead them astray, 
and consequently arrive at conclusions entirely at 
variance with the truth. On one occasion, a sturdy 
peasant, who showed no wish to be uncivil, was so 
entirely overcome by his curiosity, that, on seeing 
a rich shade of colour put upon a water-colour 
drawing, he uttered a long, loud, drawling excla- 
mation, rubbed his large hand completely across 
it, and then held up his blue fingers for the edifi- 
cation of his neighbours. Another took the sketch- 
book forcibly from our hands, gazed at it, passed 
it round the circle, and then returned it with a 
polite " gracias." 

In crossing the narrow streets leading from the 
gypsy quarter into the town of Granada, to go to 
the Cartuja convent, we were completely hemmed 
in by a wild-looking crowd, amongst whom were 
many gypsies. A savage youth, with a scowling 



THE CARTUJA CONVENT. 



89 



bad countenance, brushed rudely past us to the 
side of an equally unpromising -looking subject, 
who had an open Andalusian knife in his hand, 
saying, " Why don't you cut their throats \ they 
are English ladies ! " The Spanish maid under- 
stood them, and immediately threatened them 
with "justice" (a word in Spain equivalent to 
punishment), if they dared to touch us. Finding 
out his mistake, he said, " I clon't wish to cut a 
Spaniards throat, only that of your companion, 
for she is English." 

We hurried out of this bad neighbourhood. 
When we arrived at the Cartuja convent, two 
miles distant from Granada, we found a fresh 
batch of gypsies sitting in circles near the walls of 
the convent; one group on the steps before the 
door of the church were playing upon guitars, 
singing, and playing cards. These were mostly 
men, and they wore very short black velvet or 
cloth jackets, with a bright coloured cloth sewed 
in patterns upon it, and embroidered round the 
edge of the pattern with gold-thread. The church 
of the Cartuja is full of relics. The sacristia is 
rich in jasper, and in inlaid tortoiseshell, ivory, 
and ebony wardrobes for the priests' vestments. 



90 



THE CATHEDRAL. 



The doors of the sacristia are particularly hand- 
some ; they are very large and massive, and in- 
laid in the same rich manner as the wardrobes. 
The walk from this convent to the Monte Sacro, 
or Sacred Mount, commands a fine view of the 
Alhanibra, the river Darro, and the extensive plain 
beyond Granada. There are many Moorish re- 
mains in the fine city of Granada, many of the 
churches very interesting, with tall bell-towers. 

The cathedral was built on the site of an ancient 
mosque. It was begun in 1529. The dome is large ; 
the general architecture is bad. In the interior 
the Coro, as in all Spanish churches, blocks up the 
heart of the central nave. There are seven fine 
pictures round the dome, painted by Alonzo Cano, 
who was a native of this town. The great sight 
of the cathedral is the royal chapel, containing 
the splendid alabaster monuments of Ferdinand 
and Isabella, side by side, and the equally beautiful 
monuments of their daughter Juana, and her hus- 
band Philip of Burgundy. The carving on all of 
these is most elaborate, the figures in deep repose, 
and the features exquisitely chiselled. We saw 
the purple velvet and gold robe embroidered by 
Queen Isabella, the casket which she gave Colum- 



A REVIEW. 



91 



bus, full of gold, on his return from America, and 
a fine illuminated missal. We also saw Queen 
Isabellas crown, sceptre, and cross; also Philip's 
sword. 

On the morning of the 23d of January, the 
birthday of the Prince of the Asturias, we saw a 
review r on an alameda near the town of Granada. 
The general and his staff were well got up; the 
troopers small in stature, but good-looking young 
men. All the officers and men who had medals 
stood together, and the general passed by them, 
and particularly saluted them. We were struck 
by the silence of the crowd assembled to see them, 
— no vivas, no enthusiasm, they did not even speak 
to each other, a marvellous piece of self-denial for 
Spaniards, who are very loquacious ; the only 
sound w r as that of the water-carriers, " Aqua 
buena," which was in great request, for although 
mid-winter the sun was very hot, so much so that 
one of the troopers fainted. 

On another occasion we witnessed a Funcion 
de Gitanos, or gypsy -dance, got up by a large 
English party who came here. There were about 
twenty gipsy women and ten men. The females 
were dressed in bright -coloured cotton dresses, 



92 



A GYPSY DANCE. 



with deep flounces and crinolines, parti-coloured 
handkerchiefs oyer their shoulders, their greasy 
uncombed hair dressed with natural flowers. The 
captain of the party w T as a tall dark man, dressed 
like a Spanish peasant; he was a celebrated guitar 
player. The second in command was a tall slight 
man, of thirty years of age, in a majo dress, which 
is a black velvet jacket, very short at the back, to 
show off the faja or scarf worn round the waist, 
the jacket much trimmed with braid, black silk 
tassels, and bunches of silver buttons, sewed over 
it in every direction. The shirt is very full in 
front, and much embroidered ; olive - coloured 
knee-breeches (a very tight fit) made of woven 
elastic silk, the sides of these trimmed with silver 
buttons, and finished off at the knee with a huge 
bow of scarlet ribbon; the legs below the knee 
encased in fawn-coloured leather gaiters, beauti- 
fully stitched in patterns, left open at the calf, 
and fastened above and below with leather tags ; 
square-toed shoes, w r ith brass nails ; a little black 
turban-like velvet hat, with a turned-up brim, and 
tufts of black silk set jauntily on one side of his 
head, and which completed his attire. He was a 
celebrated tambourine player, and leant gracefully 



A GYPSY DANCE. 



93 



against an open window, with his tambourine in 
his hand, ready to exhibit his powers when called 
upon. The captain opened the funcion or cere- 
mony by playing some marches, and singing some 
songs well ; after which two gypsy women got up 
and danced a fandango to the captain's guitar 
and the rnajVs tambourine; some of the gypsy 
men then joined in the dance ; after this com- 
menced the gypsy's dance. The captain and the 
majo, with their respective instruments, headed a 
column of women, who began to dance to a slow 
air played by the captain and majo . They followed 
each other in a circle round the room; presently 
they fell into the figure of eight, increasing their 
speed constantly to the tune of the music, till at 
last they got into a complete rush, and finished 
with a loud shout. The captain rested a short 
time, and played some beautiful marches on the 
guitar, sounding the harmonies clearly and dis- 
tinctly; suddenly he jumped up, threw aside his 
guitar, seized the majo's tambourine, and played 
upon it by striking it against his knees, feet, elbows, 
head, shoulders, with various other antics, till he 
made the room vibrate. He looked like a man 
suddenly possessed by an evil spirit, except that 



94 ACCOMMODATION AT GRANADA. 



his countenance remained calm and composed' the 
whole time ; he concluded with a sweeping bow 
and salute to the company, and sat down. 

Granada is a charming residence for the spring 
and summer months. There is a good unfur- 
nished house and garden to be let in the Alham- 
bra, beside the little mosque. Many of the 
rooms in it have inlaid floors and ceilings, and 
arabesque tracery on the walls. It has a terrace 
overlooking the river Darro ; a good garden, full 
of pomegranates, vines, and fruit trees ; and all 
this is to be had for £3 a-month. There are 
also some rooms in the Torre de Justicia (the 
Tower of Justice) to be let, also unfurnished ; 
but we were told furniture can be hired at a 
moderate rate from upholsterers in Granada. 
There is a large and commodious furnished house 
near the red towers, overlooking the plain of 
Granada and the Alhambra hills. This house has 
often been let to English families for the summer 
months. 

The English vice-consul at Granada is most 
obliging and attentive to strangers, and would 
willingly read the English Church service in his 
house, if required to do so. There is a good 



A VETERAN. 



95 



doctor, of French, extraction, Monsieur de La- 
garde, professor at the College of Granada. He 
was educated in Italy. 

We made acquaintance with the porter, his 
wife, and child, who lived in the Tower of Jus- 
tice, at the entrance to the Alhambra. The for- 
mer got this situation as a reward for his services 
in the expedition of the Spanish army against 
Morocco. He was one of the thirty-three who 
first entered Tetuan, and one of the three only 
of these who left it alive. He had a small pen- 
sion of 2 reals a-day (or 5^d. English). He eked 
out his livelihood by making hempen sandals, 
such as are usually worn by the Spanish peasan- 
try, and called " alpargates." In our moonlight 
walks to the Alhambra in the calm quiet even- 
ings, we used to pass through the Gate of Justice, 
which, like all Moorish gateways, is very high and 
wide, and of the peculiar form of an S. The 
wide end of the S, next to the Alhambra, is fitted 
up as a chapel, with an altar, which no four-footed 
animal in former times was allowed to pass. The 
opposite end, towards the exterior of the gateway, 
was fitted up as a porter's lodge, by having a 
space boarded off for our humble friend's sleeping 



96 



A SPANISH HOME. 



apartment.^ : A small corner, close to the payed 
foot road, was fitted up as a little workshop and 
kitchen. Here they lighted a wood fire on the 
pavement, and prepared their olla of vegetables 
for supper. An antique-looking lamp was hung 
from a rude iron hook fastened in the wall. The 
soldier sat at his low wooden table, and made 
sandals ; his good little wife took out her work, 
generally some small article of dress for her child, 
that she had hushed to sleep, and placed in its 
bed behind the partition. We were so struck 
with the quiet happiness of these contented 
people, we often stopped and talked to them, 
and warmed ourselves at their bright blazing fire. 
They were much pleased with our visits, and 
asked us to sit down ; and the soldier volunteered 
and told us all his adventures in Morocco, how he 
fought his way into Tetuan, and how he thought 
of his wife, and brought her back some small loot, 
that she might remember what a brave man her 
husband was. 

There are many rides and drives into the moun- 
tain valleys around Granada. One to Lanjaron, 
by Sapio Reale, seven leagues distant, to which 
a carriage may be taken, is well worth making. 



EXCURSIONS FROM GRANADA. 97 

It is a Swiss-like village, famous for the beauty 
of its women, who are said to be of Moorish 
origin. It is also famous for the size of its olive, 
chestnut, and walnut trees. There is a small 
posada open for travellers during the summer 
months. Another ride is to Monachiel. When 
there, a local guide is necessary, to enable you to 
return by the mountain road of the Sierra-Ne- 
vada, which is said to be a very grand ride. 
There are also two bridle-roads to Malaga, one 
by Adra, the other by Velez Malaga ; both are 
beautiful, and not difficult to accomplish in three 
days in fine weather. A guide and good mules 
can be got at Granada for these expeditions at a 
very moderate cost. 

Two of our party, who travelled from Cordova 
to Bailen by diligence, found the only mode of 
proceeding that day or the following one to Gra- 
nada, was to take the coreo or mail cart, a two- 
wheeled tartana with a pole, made curricle fashion, 
for two wheelers and one leader. It had no 
springs, but the seats were slung in the interior, 
like some of the Swiss waggons. At two o'clock 
in the afternoon the coreo called at the hotel for 
the lady and her maid, w r ho were determined to 

G 



98 



MAIL-CART TRAVELLING. 



get on at all risks, and who were obliged to sub- 
mit to the ways of the country. There was no 
step to enable passengers to enter unassisted into 
the vehicle, but the postboy (we suppose in his 
usual fashion) w r ent down on one knee just in 
front of the wheel, and told the lady to take a seat 
on his shoulder, that he might help her into her 
seat. She had no sooner done so than he rose to 
his full height with such a jerk as to throw her 
completely over all obstacles into the centre of 
the carriage. When this was accomplished, with- 
out a smile or further remark, he stooped down 
again, and requested the maid to follow r the lady's 
example. She in her turn had no sooner done 
this than she came in, all arms "and legs, upon the 
top of her mistress. Two minutes after, a re- 
spectable commercial traveller requested them to 
make room for him, as he was to be their fellow- 
passenger. He motioned them to take the best 
seats in the corners of the swinging seat, and then 
politely wedged himself down so firmly between 
them that they could with difficulty breathe. In 
another moment the gaudy conductor and the 
postboy were upon the front seat, and with a yell 
and a scream they were off at full gallop. For 



MAIL-CART TRAVELLING. 



99 



some little time we were in a breathless state of 
anxiety, from the rapidity of the pace, the appar- 
ent chance of an upset, and the excessive jolting. 
This went on for some hours, till we settled into 
a state of calm indifference as to our fate. Not- 
withstanding the rapid pace at which we travelled, 
our leader had no reins. Being accustomed to the 
road, and to gallop from one end of the stage to 
the other, he seemed quite at home, and showed 
the greatest sagacity in choosing the road, parti- 
cularly when making the turns, when he would 
sometimes gallop to the very edge of the preci- 
pice, at others he would rush up close to the rock 
or bank at the opposite side, in order that he 
might keep a straight pull, and leave room for the 
wheelers and tartana to follow round the corner. 
The postboy screamed to his mules in a harsh 
voice, calling each by its name, such as captain, 
governor, good Christian, priest, poor curate, &c, 
and keeping up a most animated conversation 
with them, exhorting them to obedience and order. 
When they slackened their speed or turned rest- 
ive, a perfect torrent of abusive epithets was 
hurled at them, such as " bad dog," " bad water/' 
" Pontius Pilate/' " thief/' "vile Moor/' " run, run, 



100 JAEN AND ITS POPULATION. 



or I will put your mother under the earth," and 
many other curious imprecations. Indeed, we 
were told that it was fortunate for us that we had 
not a more comprehensive knowledge of the 
"manly" Spanish language. 

At about six o'clock the fine old town of Jaen 
appeared in sight. It is situated at the foot of 
some high mountains, facing the north. At one 
side, on the first chain of hills, are the extensive 
ruins of a Moorish castle, whose yellow w T alls and 
fortifications extend down to the town, in the 
centre of which is an enormous cathedral, similar 
in architecture to that at Malaga, and having the 
same defect of appearing to overwhelm the town. 
The country around is very rich and fertile, and 
is much irrigated by old Moorish aqueducts and 
Norias. We stopped a quarter of an hour to 
deliver the mail -bags, during which time we 
strolled to the Alameda or public walk. The 
inhabitants appeared a race of large handsome 
cutthroat-looking people ; there w r ere many gyp- 
sies amongst them. The women's costume is 
most becoming, consisting of a dark-blue cotton 
dress, made very short in the skirt, and edged 
with narrow frills ; a crimson cloth mantilla, edged 



THE SCENERY. 



101 



with black velvet, thrown gracefully across their 
shoulders and partly covering the back of the 
head. 

In a short time we were again summoned to 
mount our post-boy's shoulder, and to take our 
places in the tartan a, and started as before at full 
gallop. The country for many miles was exceed- 
ingly pretty, — very extensive orchards in the val- 
leys through which we passed. The higher hills 
were covered with cork and olive trees. The 
road followed the river Guadalquiver, which, 
although now a narrow stream, is rapid, and had 
destroyed several parts of the road during the 
winter floods. A few miles after this we left the 
river side and ascended a chain of hills, near the 
summit of which we passed through a singular 
tunnel in the rock, called the Puerta reale, and 
entered the plain of Granada, through which we 
passed, and arrived there at three o'clock in the 
morning after a thirteen hours' drive. We and 
our carpet-bags were set down at the door of the 
post-office, where there was only one sleepy man 
to be seen, who took the mail-bags, and locked 
them up in a small office close to the door. He 
said he had no place for us even to sit down and 



102 



NIGHT AT GRANADA. 



wait in until daylight, and that we must go on 
to some hotel and try our luck there. We hesi- 
tated to walk through the narrow streets of the 
town, which after dark have not a good reputa- 
tion for the honesty of their inhabitants. After 
a long talk, the man agreed to wake up a stout 
boy in an adjoining room, and when he arrived, 
we told him to shoulder our carpet-bags and 
show us the way to the hotel. It was pitch 
dark, and we had some difficulty in keeping close 
to our guide, as we tripped every moment over 
the rough pavement and other obstacles that the 
boy was more accustomed to steer his way through 
than we were. At last we arrived, and found all 
locked up ; we knocked, and threw pebbles up at 
the windows till we roused a waiter, who put his 
head through a grating and told us our friends 
were not there. We now concluded they must be 
at the small hotel near the Alhambra, a mile and 
a half distant, and as we were very anxious to 
join them, we agreed to walk on there ; but as the 
avenues leading up to it were so dark, we were 
afraid to venture without a light. At this juncture 
a watchman with a lantern in his hand appeared 
a little distance off. We hailed him, and he agreed 



A NIGHT ARRIVAL. 



103 



to take care of us and deliver us up in safety at 
the Hotel de Ortiz, close to the towers of the 
Alhambra. We proceeded now without any fear 
of being robbed or stabbed, and we soon found 
ourselves at the door of our looked-for resting 
place. We woke up the landlady, who told us our 
friends were there, but fast asleep. She took us 
into a tidy room and got us some hot water. We 
made some tea, after which we lay down on the 
sofas in the room till breakfast-time, when we 
joined our friends. 



104 



A MULE JOURNEY. 



CHAPTER V. 



We have already described Granada; so we pro- 
ceed with the narrative of a journey on mules across 
the country to Cordova. Some English friends 
had arranged to hire mules and ride by Alcala la 
Real and Baena to Cordova, and from thence pro- 
ceed by railway to Seville and Cadiz ; and as we 
were now anxious to join the rest of our party 
whom we expected to leave Gibraltar and meet 
us at Cadiz, we were easily induced to join. By 
the assistance of Bensaken, a respectable guide 
who resides at Granada, and who speaks English, 
we engaged mules for the journey. We paid 
four dollars for each mule, and the same for the 
baggage mule. They w r ere sorry animals, and we 
would willingly have paid more for good mules ; 
indeed, but for this circumstance, we should have 
enjoyed our ride exceedingly. As our expedition 
was to take four days, and we knew that we should 



PREPARATIONS FOE THE ROAD. 105 

not find any luxuries, or even comforts, at the 
poor mountain posadas, we laid in a store of tea, 
sugar, chocolate, chickens, and ham ; an apparatus 
for boiling water and making tea at any moment, 
with a spirit-of-wine lamp, as fires are seldom 
seen in Spain ; also a kettle, a very necessary 
article if you wish to avoid the taste of oil and 
garlic. Sketch-books, guide-books, and an assort- 
ment of clothing, were packed in a large water- 
proof bag, made in the form of a huge purse; this 
was hung across the mule's back, and hung down 
on either side. Our side-saddles were peculiar, 
and not comfortable ; they were a singular inven- 
tion, like a camp stool with arms, placed upon the 
mule's back, the legs being fastened with ropes on 
to the girths ; the upper part of the stool stood 
high above the mule's back, and formed a sort of 
arm-chair, upon which we sat sideways on a 
manta (or plaid) folded up into a square cushion ; 
our feet were supported by a square of wood, 
hung like a shelf from the stool. We had no 
power of guiding our mules, which were all tied 
to each other, and followed in a string. 

Our first days journey was a short ride to 
Pinos, only ten miles from Granada. We passed 



106 



PINOS. 



through the irrigated plain, and all went merrily 
till we came to a deep, clay, muddy road, w r hen 
our baggage mule fell, and could not be raised till 
he was relieved of the weight on his back, when 
our muleteer and some friendly passers-by tugged 
at his head and tail till we thought both would 
come off under their hands. When they at last 
succeeded in getting him on his legs, and had 
replaced the luggage, on we went, our mule- 
teer singing and smoking as if nothing had hap- 
pened, till we reached Pinos. It was here that 
Columbus was overtaken by Queen Isabella's mes- 
sengers, and returned with them to receive his 
orders for his voyage of discovery. The bridge, 
before entering the tow r n, is pretty ; but as we 
arrived by moonlight, not having left Granada till 
the afternoon, it was too dark to see much of the 
surrounding country. 

On arriving at the door of the posada, we 
entered its large open doors, and dismounted 
amongst packjages, mules, and muleteers. Stum- 
bling over mules' furniture and bales of goods, we 
made our way to the kitchen, in the centre of 
which a party of muleteers were sitting round 
a wood fire on the pavement, upon w T hich sim- 



A VILLAGE POSADA. 



107 



mered a large caldron, emitting a savoury odour. 
The majo of the party was playing on a guitar, 
the rest singing an accompaniment, and taking it 
in turn to stir the contents of the caldron. They 
regarded us with some astonishment, and, after 
much gesticulation, the majo, who proved to be 
the landlord, showed us into a small room open- 
ing out of the kitchen, containing a very doubtful- 
looking bed, a few ricketty chairs, and a table. 
We were prepared not to be easily discouraged, 
and asked for dinner in a confident sort of tone. 
We were told we should have a delicious fowl 
and sopa. The table was arranged to be ready 
for the expected dinner, a towel serving for a 
table-cloth, and the party assembled round it, 
but no sopa, no fowl, arrived. Many excursions 
were made to ask after its progress ; the answer 
was, it was still " muy duro" (very hard). There 
was no resource but to return to our seats, and 
wait as patiently as we could. Our host evidently 
pitied our condition, and came in with a guitar 
in his hand ; he sat down on one of the rickety 
chairs, and began to play wonderful airs and 
marches with great energy, executing most diffi- 
cult shakes and trills. He was bent on soothing 



108 



A VILLAGE POSADA. 



our savage appetites by sweet music. We took it 
kindly, but at last human nature could stand it no 
longer. " Make baste, we are very hungry," burst 
from our lips, extending our hands towards the 
door of the kitchen containing our long-looked-for 
fowl. It came at last ; but having been boiled 
in a narrow-mouthed jar, into which it had been 
thrust with some difficulty, and being now con- 
siderably swollen, it baffled our ingenuity to ex- 
tract it. Each of us tried successively to accom- 
plish the feat without success, till, by the united 
efforts of our several forks, it was extricated, and 
placed upon a dish with its legs much extended. 
We then poured the soup into our plates, the 
only merit of which was its being hot, for it had 
nothing else to recommend it. The fowl still 
retained its character of may duro, so we were 
obliged to have recourse to our own provision 
basket and tea-kettle. 

In some of the rooms there was no glass, only 
shutters, to exclude the external air. One of our 
party thought that she had secured her door by 
locking it, and retired with an assurance of safety 
to rest on the bed as best she could. In the 
morning she tried to unlock her door ; it was 



SOTO DE ROMA. 



109 



" muy duro" too. After much knocking and call- 
ing for assistance, the knight of the guitar came. 
After giving innumerable directions as to how she 
might open it, all which proved totally unsuccess- 
ful, he put his hand into a hole near the lock 
outside, and in one moment open it came. So 
much for the safety of a lock in a Spanish posada. 

After partaking of a cup of chocolate and a 
roll of excellent bread, we prepared to start. It 
was still twilight when we mounted our mules, 
and followed a mule-path which wound up the 
Elora hills, which are bare, with only here and 
there tufts of aromatic shrubs. From the heights 
we looked down upon the Duke of Wellington's 
property of Soto de Roma. It has the appear- 
ance of being a fertile, highly cultivated, and 
extensive farm, very much irrigated. The house, 
a large farm-like-looking mansion, stands in the 
midst of olive groves, overlooking the plain to 
the south. A ride of five hours brought us to a 
wayside posada, where our mules were rested 
under cover of a large open shed, and ourselves 
refreshed with the provisions we had carried with 
us in our knapsacks. After this the country was 
stony and rugged. Here and there a lone ruined 



110 



ALCALA LA KEAL. 



tower looked down upon us from conical bare 
grey hills. Soon after we ascended a very steep 
mountain side. Looking back towards Granada, 
we had a magnificent view of the Sierra-Nevada 
through a gorge of the Elvira hills. The sun was 
setting, and tinged the snowy summits with a 
glow of crimson light, which gradually faded to a 
pale purple, and the evening shadows reached us 
long before we reached the Moorish town of 
Alcala la Real, which stands high above the 
valley on a rock. The accommodation at this 
place was much the same as that of the preceding 
night. 

The following morning we had to start early, 
as the distance to Baena was great, and there was 
no resting-place between these two towns. We 
again took our chocolate and bread before mount- 
ing our sorry steeds, and started at 5 o'clock a.m. 
The morning was chilly and frosty ; the moon 
soon after set in the west, and the sun rose in 
the east, each, giving a rosy glow of light. On we 
went for six hours, only varied by occasionally 
walking on foot a few miles when the road was 
good. A party of muleteers, with their long 
strings of mules, joined us. One of the muleteers 



MULETEERS. 



Ill 



was an intelligent and amusing man, full of infor- 
mation about his own country. He could not 
understand for what reason we were travelling 
through this part of the world ; merely doing so 
for pleasure was to him perfectly unaccountable. 
He was anxious to know all our movements ; 
where England was, and how we expected ever to 
return to it again. He also expressed a great 
desire to know our opinion of Spain, and his 
countrymen, and if we did not admire both very 
much. 

The country here is entirely under corn crops, 
here and there a cork-tree dropped about the 
ground, like straggling trees in an English park. 
This district is monotonous and uninteresting, par- 
ticularly in the winter months. We were credibly 
informed that in this country, where there are no 
inhabitants, or very few, the people come from 
various distant towns and mountain villages, till 
the soil, sow the seed, watch and protect the crop 
till reaped, and return with it to their homes. 

After a seven hours' ride, we rested by the 
side of a well in patriarchal style. On approach- 
ing Baena, the country became much more inter- 
esting ; several mountain villages crowned the 



112 



PEASANT COSTUMES. 



heights of the hills around the fertile valley — 
corn, olives, and the locust-tree covering the 
land. During the last league of our journey, 
we were accompanied by dozens of peasants re- 
turning from their labour to the town, where 
they all lived. They were a fine, handsome peo- 
ple, cheerful and happy-looking, and they were 
extremely polite to us. The women's dress was 
very gay in colour — yellow and blue predomi- 
nating in their dresses and handkerchiefs. The 
men were mostly attired in a brown suit of sub- 
stantial-looking cloth and a bright scarlet sash, 
with handkerchief of some gaudy hue round their 
necks. There are no roads in this country : even 
where they have begun to make one out of a 
town, it only extends a mile or two, and sud- 
denly ends in a hole ; the intermediate distance 
between the towns are merely straggling paths. 
The bright idea of joining the two ends of the 
roads never seems to have entered iirto their 
heads as a means of facilitating traffic and in- 
creasing wealth. 

Baena is a considerable town, and has once 
been of great importance, as may be seen by the 
remains of a square Moorish tower and a large 



AN EARLY START. 



113 



dilapidated church. We were very thankful to 
reach Baena after a twelve hours' ride. The 
evening was cold, but during the day the sun 
was very overpowering, even in January : later 
on in the season the heat must be intolerable 
in the middle of the day. 

The following morning at five we again start- 
ed. In descending to the open vault-like sta- 
ble to mount our mules, we stumbled over what 
appeared to us bundles of mantas lying in the 
doorways and under archways. These turned 
out to be muleteers, who had passed the night 
there, and who had not finished their night's 
rest. One occasionally woke up and proceeded 
with his morning toilet, regardless of our pre- 
sence. After many difficulties in arranging and 
balancing ourselves and our luggage on our un- 
comfortable saddles, we started, and again passed 
through corn-lands that looked as if the produce 
would feed half the population of Spain, if they 
had means of exporting it otherwise than in sacks 
on mules' backs across these interminable hills. 
The country became deep clay and mud as we 
reached and forded a small tributary to the river 
Guadalquiver. Fortunately the weather had been 

H 



114 REARING OF HORSES. 

fine, and the stream was not strong ; even as it 
was, the water reached the girths of our mules. 
We wound round low hills till we reached the 
Guadalquiver, — here a wide, deep, muddy stream, 
its banks edged by willows and tamarisk ; in 
many places it was much overflowed, and we 
had to take a higher path to avoid the banks of 
mud left by the great flood in the end of De- 
cember. 

We had been many hours on our saddles be- 
fore we came to a welcome spring of water, and 
we gladly dismounted and unpacked our provi- 
sions of cold chicken, ham, and eggs, &c. ; after 
which refreshment we spread out our mantas on 
the short sweet grass, and some of the party 
pleaded guilty to losing all sense of fatigue by 
taking a good sleep. 

This is a great country for rearing horses on 
the extensive and undulating hills covered with 
short herbage. At distances of two or three 
miles are high-roofed sheds to protect and shelter 
the droves of horses from sun or rain. After this, 
the path descended to the muddy banks of the 
Guadalquiver. We ploughed and plunged through 
this sea of mud for leagues, our mules constantly 



WINTER FLOODS. 



115 



stumbling and floundering. At seven o'clock in 
the evening we reached the ferry opposite Cor- 
dova, and crossed the river by a swinging-boat, 
made fast by a rope higher up the stream, 
and continued our course through gigantic aloes 
to the town of Cordova, which we reached at 
half-past eight o'clock, after being on the saddle 
fourteen hours. 

After visiting the cathedral next day, we 
proceeded by rail to Seville. Here we heard 
that the rest of our party had found Gibraltar 
so agreeable and comfortable a residence, that 
they wished us to rejoin them there ; we shall, 
consequently, defer our description of Seville 
until we have conducted our friends there also. 

This winter was peculiar in respect to the num- 
ber and extent of disastrous floods with which Spain 
was visited ; it was thought more prudent, in con- 
sequence of this, to defer starting for Seville until 
March the 10th. Our sojourn at Gibraltar had 
been most agreeable. After a visit of two months, 
we left it with regret. The climate, coupled with 
the sanitary condition of the Rock, renders it 
perhaps superior to any other winter residence 
in Europe. The advantages of church, good me- 



116 



GIBRALTAR TO CADIZ. 



dical advice, and the extensive garrison library, 
to which, strangers are easily admitted as mem- 
bers, are not to be overlooked. We fortunately 
had taken letters of introduction to those highest 
in authority, from whom we met with the greatest 
kindness and attention ; and we sympathised most 
heartily in the universal esteem and regard in 
which the present gallant governor and his esti- 
mable family are held by all ranks. 

On the morning of the 1 1 th of March we em- 
barked for Cadiz in a large and powerful English 
steamer, which trades between the Mediterranean 
and London. Having had dire experience of 
Spanish steamers, we were greatly delighted with 
our sensible, upright, and straightforward captain, 
and indeed all his crew, who partook of the same 
character ; and for the first time this winter we 
were at sea without any misgivings or fears of a 
change of weather. Provisions of all sorts were 
abundant and excellent on board, included in a 
very moderate fare. 

The voyage occupied eight hours. Here, as at 
all ports in Spain, a small boat is necessary in 
landing and embarking. A short time sufficed to 
pass our effects through the custom-house ; and 



MURILLO's ST CATHERINE. 



117 



our luggage was carried on men's shoulders half 
a mile to the hotel. The Blanco, said to be the 
best, being full, we were obliged to go to another, 
which was very second-rate. Here we remained 
over Sunday, and went to the English con- 
sul's house at 11 o'clock a.m., when he read 
prayers and an excellent sermon in a very appro- 
priate way. There were not more than a dozen 
persons besides ourselves present. In the even- 
ing we walked to the church of los Capuchinos 
to see Murillo's picture of the marriage of St 
Catherine. It is of great size. It was while 
painting this picture from the top of a ladder 
that Murillo fell, and was so seriously injured 
that he died a few days after in consequence 
of it. The town stands on a promontory, and 
you look out to sea in all directions from it. 
There is very little to interest a stranger at 
Cadiz, and it is not thought as salubrious as 
many other places on the coast, which may be 
attributed to the bad drainage. 

The following morning we went to Xeres in 
three hours by rail. The country, during the 
first part of the journey, is flat and low, with 
many districts of pasture and common land, 



118 WINE-VAULTS OF XERES. 



upon which are fed droves of cattle and horses, 
and which are particularly favourable for rearing 
the latter. Towards Xeres there is only a small 
proportion of the country under vineyards, and a 
great part under corn, so that there is ample 
room to increase the existing quantity of vine- 
yards. We took letters of introduction to the 
two largest establishments in the wine trade, and 
met with the greatest possible civility and atten- 
tion from both. We tasted innumerable varieties 
of wine, some eighty, some one hundred and 
twenty, and some one hundred and forty years 
old, and every variety of Pajarete and other 
delicious wines. In one cellar or bodiga, we 
saw 14,000 butts of sherry. These bodigas are 
above ground, and have a free current of air 
through them ; the casks are ranged in rows like 
streets, pilled one row above another, and stand 
generally three rows deep. 

There is a tolerable hotel at Xeres, the Vic- 
toria ; nothing can be more interesting than to 
spend a day there. Wine of first-rate quality 
can be bought at about £60 a butt, or £15 the 
quarter cask ; this, with the addition of duty and 
freight, will come to about 30s. the dozen, or 



THE WINES OF SPAIN. 



119 



£1 less than that usually charged for the same 
wine in England. From the lucrative nature of 
the wine trade, large quantities of wine are now be- 
ing brought down by rail from the interior of Spain, 
to be turned into sherry for the English market. 
These are not inferior wines, and will increase the 
supply of second-rate wine, and prevent a rise in 
the price of the best wines. There is a very fine 
wine raised near Cordova, called Montilla. Exten- 
sive vineyards have lately been purchased here by 
one of the first houses in Xeres. Montilla is a very 
much esteemed and rather costly wine in Spain : 
a very first-rate butt is said to be worth £100. 
We were told that a certain Mr Holdsworth, a 
wine merchant in London, can supply some of the 
best of this wine. We mentioned Priorata as an 
excellent wine at Barcelona. At Malaga a good 
deal of wine is made exactly on the same 
principle as at Xeres, called dry Malaga. It is 
rather strong and hot, which arises from the 
greater amount of fermentation it undergoes in 
order to throw off the natural sweetness, and this 
fermentation is said to turn the sugar into alco- 
hol ; it is branded " Xeres/' is called " Malaga 
Sherry/' and costs £24 a butt. It is much used 



120 WINES AND THEIR PRICES. 



in adulterating sherry in England. "White 
Sweet Malaga " is the natural wine of the country, 
neither over fermented on the one hand, nor 
sweetened with boiled fruit and burnt sugar on 
the other, as of old. It is a good w r holesome 
wine, is much used in the Spanish hospitals, and 
is approved of by those who like sweet wine ; it 
is also good for culinary purposes. The price is 
£24 a butt, or £6 a quarter cask, which with duty 
would come to about 19s. a dozen in England. 
There is a still more delicate and delicious sweet 
wine to be got here, called " White Sweet Luce- 
na;" the price is £7 the quarter cask. At Se- 
ville we were introduced to a certain intelligent 
Spanish duke, w r ho told us that although there 
were many excellent wines in Spain, he thought 
that first-rate sherry was the best, and most 
adapted to the English taste. It is a curious 
fact, of which we were assured both at Xeres and 
Malaga, that the vegetable matter in wine retains 
a sort of life in it for about ten years ; the wine 
regularly thickens every spring at the time the 
sap rises in the wine, and there is a correspond- 
ing change again in autumn. 

We may conclude with a few remarks upon 



POUT WINES. 



121 



port wine. Although we did not visit Oporto, 
yet in calling there in our passage by a Peninsu- 
lar and Oriental steamer, we were fortunate 
enough to take on board a most agreeable fellow- 
passenger, who proved to be one of the first wine- 
merchants in Oporto. From him we learned that 
port wine of first-rate quality could be bought 
in Oporto for from £60 to £70 a pipe ; that 
as the pipe runs five dozen more than a butt 
of sherry, port wine is quite as cheap as sherry. 
When we talked to him of the enormous prices 
that were charged by the English wine -mer- 
chants, he said, he was quite aware of that, 
for he had lately talked to one of his customers 
on the subject, who excused himself by telling 
him that not long since (no doubt ashamed of 
his enormous profits) he had written to a certain 
nobleman to offer him wine at a very considerable 
reduction in price, and received an answer stating 
that his lordship liked to be sure of what he 
drank, and he preferred paying the former high 
price. 



122 



SEVILLE : 



CHAPTER VI. 



Theee hours by rail from Xeres brought us to 
the great city of Seville. In many respects it has 
the advantage of Madrid, more particularly in 
climate. It is the residence of many old families 
and wealthy nobles and merchants ; perhaps the 
second city of no country in Europe excels it. On 
a fine evening, and most evenings are fine here 
in March and April, there appear to be from one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred handsome car- 
riages on the drive near the river Guadalquiver. 
The town is handsome and clean. In some parts 
it is ill-paved. The houses are commodious, with 
fine balconies and beautiful patios. They gene- 
rally have m entrance-porch which leads to an 
open -worked iron gate, often very handsome. 
The interiors are built with open square court- 
yards or patios, on each side of which are cor- 
ridors, supported by marble pillars. These patios 



ITS HOUSES AND POPULATION. 123 



are generally paved with black and white marble, 
and have fountains playing in the centre, around 
which flowers in porcelain vases are arranged. 
During the hot summer months, the family usually 
descend to the suite of apartments on the ground 
floor opening on to the patio, which they fit up 
. and use as a drawing-room, and ascend to the 
upper suite of rooms on the first floor for the 
cold months of winter. Many of the houses are 
richly decorated with Moorish porcelain tiles, 
still called in the shops, where they imitate them 
very correctly, azulejos. The population of the 
town are well-clad, and apparently well-fed, and 
there is scarcely any appearance of poverty even 
among the lower ranks. The beggars, instead of 
being in rags, as at Naples, are almost always 
clean and well-clad, and are very often seen 
smoking a cigar. 

The cathedral is one of the grandest in Europe. 
It is in beautiful repair, although it has been 
built many centuries ; it could not be in a more 
perfect state if it had been erected only a few 
years since. The height of the nave and tran- 
septs is truly grand. The painted glass is beauti- 
ful, and there are some of Murillo's finest pictures 



124 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 



in it, as well as others of the old Spanish school. 
Outside the cathedral in the Patio de los Na- 
ranjos, or court of the orange trees, is the Giralda, 
a Moorish tower and belfry. It is unique and 
exquisitely beautiful. It is 350 feet high; the 
upper 100 feet forming the belfry, was added 
in 1568. The view from the belfry is exten- 
sive. It is ascended with ease by 36 ramps, or 
payed slopes, instead of steps. Not far distant 
from the cathedral is the Louja, or town-hall, and 
the archbishop's palace. 

Nearer the Moorish halls of the city, stands the 
Alcazar, or Royal Palace. It is, like all Moorish 
buildings, of plain exterior, but the interior is 
gorgeous with marble pillars, arches, arabesque 
tracery, courts, and corridors. The doors and 
ceilings are of inlaid wood, and are richly gilded ; 
the walls and floors are in mosaic of coloured 
porcelain tiles, the patterns of which are geome- 
trical, most varied and beautiful. The hall of 
the ambassadors is gorgeous with gilding. The 
grand patio is very similar to the court of Lions 
at the Alhambra. The whole has been restored 
within the last ten years ; it is in perfect order, 
but the new colouring is too gaudy. The gardens 



MURILLO'S PAINTINGS. 



125 



laid out by Charles V. are more curious than 
beautiful. The Moorish bath, with its many 
gushing streams, is interesting ; also the garden 
walks, through which pipes are laid from the 
fountains, and the unwary passer-by is suddenly 
surrounded by small jets of water playing round 
him from an unseen hand. The Alcazar contains 
a fine suite of rooms ; for some time it was sup- 
posed that the King of Naples was to occupy 
them. 

The Infanta and her husband, the Duke de 
Montpensier, have a handsome palace here, lately 
refitted and repaired. It has an extensive garden, 
teeming with oranges and flowering shrubs ; also 
a fancy dairy, and zoological garden attached to 
it. In the museum, there is a chamber set apart 
for Murillo's pictures, where are to be seen twenty- 
four of his largest and best works ; they are justly 
prized and considered of inestimable value. 

At the Caridad (a convent and hospital for 
aged men) there are some of Murillo's celebrated 
pictures. At the church of the university there are 
some good pictures by Roelas ; one small picture 
over the altar, of the Infant Saviour, is a most ex- 
quisite gem. All these beautiful pictures are 



126 



CIGAR MANUFACTORY. 



separately and well described in Murray's hand- 
book of Spain. 

There is a residence of the Duke de Medina 
Celi, a cousin of the reigning family, called La 
Casade Pilatos, or Pilate's House, built completely 
after the Moorish fashion, and said to be an imita- 
tion of Pilate's house. It is very handsome, and 
there is a fine stair-case and gallery in it. There 
are also many other most interesting Moorish 
houses throughout the town. 

There is an enormous cigar and tobacco manu- 
factory, employing several thousand persons. It is 
a government monopoly, and is very similar to 
the one we described at Valencia. We visited 
the government establishment for making rifled 
cannon, and saw some good machinery ; it was all 
stamped with the name of English makers. We 
were told it was small compared with English 
factories, yet we thought it very respectable. 

There is an extensive parade-ground not far 
distant from the city. The Spanish troops are 
well clad, and they are active light men taken 
from the peasantry, from whom good material 
might be expected ; but it is generally believed in 
Europe, that from a bad morale extending from 



FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 



127 



the highest to the lowest grades, although great 
boasters, their power of rapid marching is perhaps 
the only virtue they possess, and they are famous 
for making that most difficult exploit in war, a 
good retreat. 

We visited a Cuna, or foundling hospital. It 
was necessary to give notice of our intended visit ; 
so, perhaps, they were prepared for us. The house 
was beautifully clean. It was presided over by 
sisters of charity, who were neatly dressed, and 
appeared very kind to the children. In the first 
nursery there were thirty-three infants not ex- 
ceeding three weeks old. They squalled very like 
those of Valencia. The sisters carried off the 
most noisy to the wet nurses. There is said to 
be a great mortality amongst them. A great many 
of these poor creatures suffer from delicate eyes ; 
some had one, and some both eyes affected. We 
asked what was the usual treatment for these 
cases, and we were told they invariably bled for 
it. Bleeding is still the Spanish nostrum for all 
maladies. 

In the train between Seville and Cordova, we 
met a gentleman who told us the following story: 
He is acquainted with a young lady in Madrid 



128 



A FOUNDLING. 



about twenty years of age, who is one of the most 
beautiful women in that great city. She is living 
under the protection of her reputed uncle and 
aunt, who are honest good people, and with whom 
she has resided since she was five years of age. 
She was impressed with the idea that she was not 
the child of her supposed father and mother, with 
whom she lived previously in a village near Seville, 
and latterly she had become most anxious to as- 
certain the true facts of her birth and parentage. 
Hearing that this gentleman was leaving Madrid 
to take a government office in Seville, she re- 
quested him to make minute inquiries. He visited 
the supposed mother, who was still residing in the 
same village, and told her of the suspicions of her 
reputed daughter, and implored her to state the 
truth. She at first assured him that the young 
lady was her own daughter, but upon his threat- 
ening her with punishment if she concealed the 
true facts, she confessed she had taken the child 
from the foundling hospital to bring it up as her 
own, a common act of benevolence amongst 
Spaniards ; that she was instigated to do this by 
a young lady of high rank ; and that she had re- 
ceived money for doing so. The lady had come 



STOEY OF A FOUNDLING. 129 

several times to see the child, and each time had 
given her money. When the child was five years 
of age, an uncle and aunt of the woman were 
going to leave the country and settle at Madrid. 
They were pleased with the beauty of the little 
girl, and, having no children of their own, agreed 
to take her with them and to bring her up. The 
supposed mother not continuing very fond of the 
girl, and not finding her so good a bargain as she 
expected, readily gave her up. When next the 
real mother inquired for the child she told her it 
was dead. The gentleman then went to the 
foundling hospital to get what information he 
could from the Sisters of Charity there. With 
infinite trouble and difficulty he at length traced 
both the father and mother. They were both 
unmarried at the time of the birth of the child, 
and they are of the most distinguished families of 
Seville, and very rich. Now they are married, 
but not to each other, therefore they can never 
acknowledge their daughter. The mother had 
remained unmarried as long as she believed her 
child to be alive, but now they both know the 
whole story. The gentleman who told us this 
story manifested the greatest feeling and interest 

i 



130 



LIFE IN SEVILLE. 



in it — so much so, that we could have no doubt 
of its truth. He also appeared rather a character. 
He told us the bull-fight was his ruling passion, 
and that at a great amateur bull-fight at Alicante, 
for a charitable purpose, he had acted as one of 
the principal chulos in the arena. 

The country around Seville is very flat, and 
much overflowed in the winter time ; but the 
climate is charming in March and April : in 
summer it is excessively hot. There is one large 
square in Seville, with rows of fine orange-trees 
around it. It is not long since this square was 
formed. It is a favourite resort towards evening. 
Ladies are not so often seen on foot here as in 
other Spanish towns. They still retain many 
Moorish customs in their houses, where they make 
a drawing-room of the patios and corridors, and 
spend much of their time in reclining on ottomans 
and eating bonbons. They invariably wear a 
mantilla or veil of black lace, velvet, silk, or 
gauze, which is pinned on the back of the head 
at each side, and flows over the shoulders for 
about a yard on either side. The black lace 
mantillas are very beautiful, and some of them of 
very great value. They do not consider their 



BULL- FIGHT COSTUMES. 



131 



toilette complete if they have not a fan in their 
hands ; indeed, they are so accustomed to its 
constant use that they even fan themselves in 
bed. 

The hotels are tolerable : the Hotel de Paris 
is the best. The shops in Seville are not showy, 
but most articles of necessity or luxury can be 
found in them. 

As in other large towns in Spain, each street 
is devoted to a particular trade. 'It is well worth 
making a visit to the tailors who make the gor- 
geous dresses for the matadors and picadors at 
the bull-fights. We saw about thirty men and wo- 
men at work embroidering the rich velvet cloaks, 
jackets, waistcoats, &c, with gold and silver braid 
and spangles. The suit is usually made of one 
colour, either crimson, pale sea-green, violet, 
scarlet, blue, or mauve, according to taste. The 
short jackets are completely covered with gold 
and silver braid, spangles, silver buttons, and 
silk tassels. A very handsome jacket costs about 
£30. The cloak is in the form of a bornous, 
and is edged or spotted over with gold or silver 
spangles. The waistcoat is equally gorgeous, 
The faja worn round the waist is of the finest 



132 



A LODGING-HOUSE. 



spun silk, the ends heavily embroidered. The 
knee-breeches are made of woven elastic silk, and 
have a wide piece of embroidery sewed down the 
outside of the legs, and are finished off at the 
knees with a large bow of ribbon. The matadors 
wear white silk stockings and polished black 
leather pumps, with buckles or a large bow of 
ribbon. On their heads they wear the invariable 
little round black velvet hat, with a large flower 
placed jauntily* at one side of it. Their hair, 
which they usually wear long, is tied up in a roll 
at the back of their heads, and fastened with a 
large bow of some bright-coloured ribbon. A 
full suit for a bull-fight costs from £100 to 
£120. 

We visited a corral or lodging-house for the 
lower classes. The house was formerly a noble- 
man's palace, and it is now let out in separate 
apartments. There w r as a large patio in the 
centre, and an open corridor both around the 
ground floor and the first story. There was a 
large fountain with a copious supply of water in 
the middle of the patio. All the apartments 
open into the corridors, and there were sixty 
separate families living in these ; but there being 



WASHING ESTABLISHMENT. 



133 



no kitchen, they each had a separate little square 
furnace, about three feet high, placed alongside 
the pillar that supported the roof of the corridor. 
We paid our visit here at the dinner hour : they 
were mostly occupied cooking their repasts. The 
usual dish was sopa or soup ; one civil woman 
told us how it was prepared. The receipt for 
it was, a tea-cupful of boiling water put into a 
bowl, to which was added some oil and garlic : 
upon the top of this is placed sufficient sliced 
bread to absorb the whole of the contents of the 
bowl, which is then turned out into a plate, and 
looks much more like a pudding than soup. 
These families, being accustomed to congregate 
together, live very harmoniously, and they looked 
cheerful and happy. 

We afterwards went to the Corral del Conde, 
or washing establishment, where three hundred 
women were employed. The building is a large 
square court. There is an enormous fountain in 
the centre, surrounded by square stone troughs 
at which the women were busily washing. There 
were ropes extended from side to side of the 
court, and these were covered with linen and 
garments of every hue, shape, and colour, under 



134 



PALM SUNDAY. 



the process of drying. This is not considered so 
respectable an establishment as the first corral we 
visited. 

A few days previous to the holy week a party 
of men were occupied in erecting an enormous 
wooden temple or monument in the cathedral 
near the principal entrance. It is painted in 
imitation of white marble, ornamented with gild- 
ing. In the centre of this monument is a cus- 
todia, in which the host is deposited and the 
holy oil placed on Holy Thursday, after which it 
is brilliantly lighted up with innumerable wax 
lights. This monument is in exceedingly bad 
taste and quite out of character with the fine 
architecture of the cathedral. 

On Palm Sunday w r e went to the cathedral 
at 8 a.m. to see the palm leaves and olive 
branches blessed. The cardinal bishop, a feeble 
old man, with a gentle expression of face, and his 
clergy in rich vestments, were performing high 
mass, after which they blessed the palm leaves 
and olive branches, and descended the steps of 
the altar in procession, some carrying palm leaves 
much decorated with gold in their hands ; others 
of the clergy distributed the palm leaves and 



PALM SUNDAY. 



135 



olive branches to the crowd. The Infanta and 
her husband the Duke of Montpensier, their 
daughter, and nephew (a son of the Duke of 
Nemours) and their suite, who had attended 
high mass, followed in the procession. They all 
passed out of the cathedral by the west door, and 
re-entered it at the east door when they returned 
to the high altar. There the bishop was divested 
of his mitre and robes ; after which he was assisted 
down the steps of the altar, and he retired bless- 
ing the crowd. His countenance was most ami- 
able and kind, and the crowd seemed to have 
great respect and reverence for him. The In- 
fanta and her party remained to hear a sermon 
by a celebrated preacher. 

At five o'clock the same day we went to a 
balcony in a street leading to the cathedral, where 
the processions of the holy week were to pass, and 
which we had hired for the week at a cost of 
£2, 10s. A dais was prepared for the Infanta 
at the town-hall, in the Plaza Francesco. Soon 
after five o'clock a procession appeared at the 
end of the street, moving onwards to the cathe- 
dral. It consisted of white penitents, who were 
fifty men in grotesque dresses of white cotton 



THE PROCESSION OJST 



with yellow sashes round the waists, and a long 
white scarf oyer a pointed sugar-loaf hat which 
completely concealed their faces, only two small 
holes being cut for the eyes, and to enable them 
to see their way. Each penitent carried a lighted 
taper in his hand. Gentlemen consider it an 
honour to be allowed to attend the processions 
in this guise. After these penitents followed a 
paso or platform about fourteen feet long and 
eight feet wide ; a deep fringe or curtain is fast- 
ened round it, and above it is a handsome canopy 
of coloured silk, and gold and silver fringes, sup- 
ported by silver or brass pillars. The images, 
rather larger than life, are placed upon it, and 
many wax tapers lighted round the images and 
in front of them. This paso, which is of great 
weight, is carried on the shoulders of twenty-four 
Gallician porters, here called Gallegos. These 
men are usually hewers of wood and water-car- 
riers. On the first platform or paso was a wooden 
image representing our Saviour bound before 
Pontius Pilate, and guarded by six Roman soldiers. 
This paso was preceded by a military band, and 
followed by several men dressed in Roman attire. 
The next procession was preceded by black peni- 



PALM SUNDAY. 



137 



tents, the dress of these men being similar to the 
white penitents previously described, except in 
colour. 

The next paso carried a very large and beauti- 
fully carved image of the Virgin. The dress of this 
was of very rich white satin and gold ; the mantle 
suspended from the shoulders was of black velvet, 
very full, wide, and flowing, and richly embroid- 
ered with gold. The arms, neck, and bosom of 
the image were covered with jewels. The ex- 
pression of the face was very sweet and melan- 
choly ; but much of its beauty destroyed by its 
being so highly varnished. An image of St John 
was placed on the same platform behind that of 
the Virgin. This paso was attended by detach- 
ments of military and bands of music. The third 
paso represented our Saviour s triumphal entry 
into Jerusalem riding on an ass. The ass was a 
very large specimen, stuffed ; and the whole was 
overshadowed by a palm-tree, in the branches of 
which was a diminutive figure in a white cotton 
dress, and a large straw hat and blue feathers, 
representing Zaccheus. The fourth p^aso carried 
an image of the Virgin alone, with a flowing 
white lace dress, a magnificent dagger set with 



138 



SPANISH REVIVALS. 



diamonds on her breast ; the mantle of dark blue 
velvet, five or six yards long and many yards 
wide. This was hung from the neck of the image, 
and was so long that it hung over the platform, 
and was supported by two little boys in white 
and blue dresses. The fifth and last paso of 
this day, was a crucifixion, not only of our Saviour 
but also of the two thieves. These images are 
kept in the different churches ; and we were told 
that all the images of the Virgin Mary have 
maids of honour chosen from the ladies of the 
noblest families or first citizens, and these have 
the charge of their valuable robes and jewels, 
and their office is to dress the images for these 
processions. We were told that these pasos had 
a very considerable effect in reviving religious 
feeling annually amongst the Spaniards ; but we 
apprehend that, as in American or Scotch revivals, 
there is more of fanaticism than religion, and that 
the good effect is not very lasting. 

On Wednesday of the Holy Week is the cere- 
mony of the rending of the white veil in the 
cathedral, which is not so impressive as the 
rending of the black veil on the following Satur- 
day. On the 28th of March (Holy Thursday) we 



HOLY THUKSDAY. 



139 



attended the service of the benediction of the oil 
to be used for extreme unction and other cere- 
monies during the ensuing year. The service 
took place in the sacristia of the cathedral. The 
cardinal, bishop, and fifty priests were present. 
On this day the beautiful agate doors of the cus- 
todia above the altar are opened, and the valuable 
relics it contains exhibited. In the centre of the 
chapel a long table was placed, upon which stood 
two gold vases about two feet high. After seve- 
ral prayers were said, and the ceremony of the 
benediction of the oil in golden cups upon the altar 
was over, the priests walked with these cups in 
their hands, and poured the consecrated oil into 
the two vases on the table, after which they took 
the vases on golden trays, and all the priests 
followed in procession and conveyed them to the 
high altar, where the Infanta and her suite, as on 
Palm Sunday, were already seated on a. crimson 
velvet dais at one side of the altar. High mass 
was performed, after which the procession again 
formed, and the priests carried the host and 
the consecrated oil to the custoclia in the white 
monument, followed by the Infanta and her suite. 
On this occasion the Infanta and her daughter, 



140 THE INFANTA AND HER DAUGHTER. 

who is about thirteen years of age, wore full 
court - dresses and trains ; the former wore a 
white silk dress, and a pale pink brocaded silk 
train, trimmed with white Brussels lace, a tiara 
and necklace of diamonds and pearls, and a white 
lace mantilla. The princess, her daughter, wore 
a white silk dress and a blue train, and a wreath 
of pink roses. The younger members of the 
family wore blue and white dresses. The Duke 
of Montpensier wore a rich military uniform ; his 
nephew had blue and richer regimentals. The 
ladies of the suite wore full court-dress. The 
royal family followed the bishop and the clergy, 
each bearing a lighted taper in their hands, and, 
on arriving at the monument, they knelt upon 
the steps round it till the priests placed the host 
in the custodia, after which they separated. The 
Infanta and her suite walked to the door of the 
cathedral, where the carriages were waiting to 
convey them back to the palace, and the bishop 
and clergy went into the sacristia to unrobe. It 
is here that the wardrobes containing the priests' 
vestments are placed. 

At 1 1 a. m. the same day a dinner was laid 
for twelve poor men in the bishop's palace, where 



CEREMONIES OF THE HOLY WEEK. 141 

the bishop was to serve them and give them 
his blessing. The crowd of respectable people 
making their way into the palace was immense, 
and it was with great difficulty we got entrance, 
with the assistance of some civil Spaniards, who, 
seeing we were strangers, assisted us. We entered 
one of the long galleries, and found twelve re- 
spectable-looking old men sitting at a table ready 
to begin their repast. We passed on, and made 
our exit into a patio at the opposite side of the 
palace from which we had entered it. 

At three o'clock that afternoon we saw the 
ceremony of the bishop washing the feet of 
thirteen old men at the cathedral. These were 
dressed in a new suit of brown cloth, the dona- 
tion of the bishop, and seated on benches placed 
on a platform raised between the high altar and 
the coro. Six men were placed at one side, and 
seven on the other ; the thirteenth man has 
always been added to the original twelve since 
a miraculous thirteenth was discovered after the 
service many years ago. The bishop was placed 
on a throne in the centre of the platform. Each 
old man had a napkin thrown over his shoulder, 
and the shoe and stocking off the right foot. 



142 WASHING THE FEET. 

After a long service of robing and unrobing 
the bishop, a sacristan entered with a golden 
ewer and basin. The bishop took them from 
the sacristan and went round the platform and 
washed, or rather poured water on, each man's 
foot, wiped it with the napkin placed on the man's 
shoulder, and kissed it. The bishop returned to 
his throne, and a priest entered the pulpit near, 
read some verses out of the Testament ; and 
after doing so, preached a sermon most impres- 
sively, which the immense crowd listened to most 
attentively and respectfully. 

At four o'clock that day, the Infanta and her 
party, in full court dress, visited the monument in 
the cathedral, and knelt down before the host in 
the custodia with great appearance of reverence 
and devotion ; after which they left the cathedral 
on foot, and walked through the streets to their 
dais at the town-hall, to see the pasos come from 
their respective churches to the cathedral. We 
took our places, as formerly, in the balcony over- 
looking the street through which the processions 
were to pass. They were very similar to those we 
had seen on Palm Sunday, except three. One was 
an image of our Saviour praying in the garden of 



THE MISEKEKE. 



143 



Gethseinane, Elias and Moses standing by his side, 
and St Peter and St John represented as sleeping ; 
the second was our Saviour bearing his cross; the 
third a very finely carved image of Isaiah with the 
book of prophecies in his hand. This figure was 
of gigantic size. Before and after each of these 
pasos were cavalry and infantry in Roman attire. 

At ten o'clock the same evening we went to 
the cathedral to hear the Miserere. This was 
the most solemn and impressive service of the 
holy week. The enormous cathedral Avas bril- 
liantly lighted up, and, from its vast extent, there 
was a hazy and beautiful light throughout its 
numerous lofty and grand aisles. Groups of 
females, in black dresses and mantillas, were sitting 
or kneeling upon the marble pavement with per- 
fect stillness and deep devotion in their attitudes ; 
the male portion of worshippers were spread 
about in every direction, and all seemed devout. 
The music was soft and beautiful, and floated 
through the vast edifice. We were told the greater 
part of the people remained in the cathedral all 
night, to see two pasos and processions enter it 
soon after midnight, after which was high mass. 

On Good Friday, at eight o'clock in the morn- 



144 RENDING THE VEIL. 



ing the great candelabra at the high altar was 
lighted, the only day of the year in which it is done. 
At five o'clock in the afternoon there were more 
processions and pasos. One of these was the en- 
tombment of our Saviour, and the three Maries 
represented as kneeling beside the grave ; and an- 
other of the Virgin Mary, which was magnificently 
adorned with jewels and a splendid mantle of 
crimson velvet and gold. The following morning 
(Saturday), we went to the cathedral to witness 
the grand ceremony of the rending of the black 
veil which was hung behind the high altar. There 
was high mass. The cathedral was densely 
crowded, and all seemed in the greatest state of 
expectation, yet the greatest quietude prevailed. 
At the conclusion of the high mass a rifle was fired 
as a signal; simultaneously fireworks, which had 
been placed around the galleries and under the 
arches, were made to explode ; this was accom- 
panied by artificial thunder. We kept our eyes 
fixed on the black veil. In the midst of the roar 
of fireworks and thunder the veil was rent from 
the top to the bottom with a loud crash. The 
means taken to do this were not well concealed, 
as we could see the feet of the men who were pull- 



EASTER DAY. 



145 



ing the cords at each side to cause the veil to be 
divided. Immediately after, the two fine organs 
pealed forth a grand burst of music, which con- 
tinued some time, and they finished off with a 
modern waltz. Easter day is heralded in by a 
peal of bells at midnight. The services of this 
day are not very impressive or unusual, and the 
afternoon is devoted to the first great bull-fight 
of the season. On this occasion the Spaniards 
seem in the same excitement that the English are 
on the day of a great race. Thousands of people 
come into the town, and they are seen streaming 
towards it in every direction. There are also 
great bull-fights of equal magnificence at the fair, 
which takes place about the 18th of April, and 
lasts three days. 



146 



THE GREAT FAIR. 



CHAPTER VII. 



" Quien no ha vistoa Sevilla no ha visto mara- 
villa" (he who has not seen Seville has not 
seen a wonder). This is true of Seville at all 
times, but more especially at the season of the 
annual fair. For some days previous, an immense 
concourse of strangers of every rank pours into the 
town. The prices of houses, lodgings, carriages, 
&c, are quadrupled. The masters of the herds of 
cattle and horses are splendidly mounted, and are 
seen accompanying their charges towards the fair, 
which is held on a very extensive plain on the 
immediate outskirts of the city. The immense 
flocks of horses, horned cattle, and sheep, much 
resemble those of some of our great annual cattle 
fairs in England. The street of tents for the 
nobles and rich people, has evidently had its 
origin in the necessity and advantage of their pre- 
sence at the disposal of their flocks and herds, so 



LIFE AT THE FAIK. 



147 



that pleasure and fashion seem to have been wisely 
combined with profit. The nobles from Madrid, 
ladies in maja dresses (the old Spanish costume), 
peasants from the Sierra Morena in their varied 
costumes, Russian artists, English officers from 
Gibraltar, French engineers, German traders, 
American travellers, are all seen in motley groups. 

Every family who can afford it has a tent at 
the fair, where they spend the whole day. These 
tents are made of a rough framework of wood, 
covered with canvass or striped cotton. Some 
of them contain a few chairs and mats : others 
are much ornamented with bright-coloured dra- 
peries and flags, and furnished with sofas, arm- 
chairs, tables, and grey-coloured mats, and quan- 
tities of flowers in porcelain vases, arranged 
with taste at the doors, and within the tents. 
They are generally divided into two parts : the 
servants occupy the apartment at the back, and 
are always in readiness to serve refreshments and 
cold water from the cool porous jars. All the 
world pay each other visits, when wine, fruits, 
sweetmeats, chocolate, and coffee, are offered to 
the guests. In the tents of the humbler class, 
nuts, a sort of sweet bean, bonbons, and cold 



148 



THE LIVE STOCK. 



water (the latter is a constant necessity with the 
Spaniards), are offered to their friends. 

The most magnificent tents are those of the 
two great clubs, who, for the time, adjourn from 
their club-houses in the town to these tents in the 
fair. In the evening they have music and danc- 
ing, and they are much crowded with gaily-dressed 
ladies and gentlemen. There are other tents less 
aristocratic, where there is plenty of dancing, and 
in some there are comedians, so that the peasants 
may see a tolerable performance for a few pence. 
There are long streets of tents occupied by gyp- 
sies, and others have booths for the sale of knives, 
daggers, and toys. Between these rows of tents 
and booths all the gay world move in carriages 
or on foot ; and, in the brilliant sunshine at this 
season, the scene is very animated. In the quar- 
ter where the cattle and horses are sold, the scene 
is lively and amusing. The herdsmen have their 
little fireplaces near their flocks, and are seen 
cooking their food. The horned cattle are fawn- 
coloured, but not fine as compared with English 
animals. The sheep are of large size : their wool 
is of very fine texture. The horses are well fed 
and handsome— generally of a stamp that would 



BULL-FIGHTS. 



149 



bring about £100 in England, though we did not 
hear of any long prices being asked or given. 
From the badness of the roads almost all Spaniards 
ride, and seem more at home on horseback than 
anywhere else. 

The gypsies are conspicuous at the fair, parti- 
cularly the females, who are cleanly and prettily 
dressed in white muslin, which forms a striking 
contrast to their olive skins and black eyes. Many 
of these preside over small stalls, where they dis- 
tribute a delicacy well known at Seville — the hot 
circular cakes called buiiuelos. 

Upon the first and last days of the fair are very 
grand bull-fights ; they commence at four o'clock 
in the afternoon. The Infanta, in a rich maja 
dress, and the Duke of Montpensier, his family and 
suite, all attend it ih full dress. In the surround- 
ing benches were seated about 12,000 persons, 
both male and female, of every rank, in holiday 
attire. There were no clergy in full canonicals, 
as described by Mr Ford, but we were assured 
many were present in plain clothes. The arena 
is very large : the open space into which the bulls 
are admitted could not be less than a hundred 
yards in diameter. It is wrong to call this " Cor- 



150 



THE BULLS. 



reda de Toros " a bull-fight ; the poor bull has no 
more chance with his numerous assailants than a 
rat turned out to be worried. When knights of 
old, on gallant steeds, charged the bull lance in 
hand, it might with more propriety have been 
called a bull-fight ; but when modern Spaniards 
sit, cigar in mouth, and watch a paid picador do 
the work, it wdll be easy to find a more appropriate 
translation of " Correda de Toros." The picadors 
or horsemen, the chulos or men on foot, with gay- 
coloured cloaks, and the matadors or killers, are 
dressed in gorgeous antique costume, and certainly 
have an imposing effect ; but the poor bull, lately 
taken from his native pastures, in the prime of his 
youth and strength, being a four-year old, is roused, 
and made to rush into the middle of the arena ; 
here he halts, and stares with bewilderment and 
surprise at tlie assembled thousands, who greet his 
arrival with clapping of hands. 

The majority of these animals were black, 
though some were of a yellowish dun, not unlike 
some of our West Highlanders, with wide horns 
from one and a half to two feet long. They were 
wanting in the breadth of our favourite British 
breeds. From the middle of the arena the bull 



THE FIGHT. 



151 



was soon provoked to make desperate charges, 
right and left, at chulos and picadors, the former 
showing the greatest activity in vaulting over the 
palisades, or escaping into the narrow side-niches, 
where the bull cannot follow. The picadors re- 
ceive the charge of the bull by meeting him with 
the point of their lance, which is a short knife on 
the point of a pole about eight feet long. With 
this they meet or catch him on the shoulder, which 
always mitigates, and often completely checks, his 
charge. The bull sometimes avoids the lance, and 
it is then he gores the horse, or sends him and 
his rider sprawling in the dust. Cut and goaded 
with the lances of the picadors, and exhausted by 
fruitless charges at the gay cloaks of the chulos, 
he at last yields to the lords of the creation, and 

looks out for the entrance through which he had 

* 

been admitted. Thus far the " Corrida de Toros 99 
was a fight ; and here, were the poor bull, baffled 
and conquered, allowed to retire, a subdued animal, 
all would be well, and in harmony with English 
notions of a bull-fight, and of fair play ; but now, 
when the poor bull is exhausted by his attacks on 
his antagonists, more than one of whose steeds is 
seen dead on the ground, and others, with their 



152 



CHAEACTEE OF THE SPOET. 



bowels protruding, are kept with difficulty on their 
legs, to receive further charges of the bull, a trum- 
pet sounds, and more tormentors come forth in the 
shape of men, with barbed darts in their hands, 
called bandorilleros ; these they fling with great 
dexterity and fasten in the bull's neck, till the 
agony completes his exhaustion, and the matador 
is now summoned by a second blast of the trumpet. 
He finally, after prolonged endeavours, succeeds 
in running a sword down between his shoulders 
to his heart, when the mighty beast falls, and is as 
harmless as a worm. The numbers of bulls killed 
at each corrida is generally eight; and as soon as 
one is killed, he is rapidly removed by mules in 
gay trappings, who drag him off the arena by a 
noose fastened round the horns, and in five minutes 
a fresh bull comes snorting forward. 

The Spanish say they love bull -fighting " be- 
cause they are more brave than all other men ; " 
but their bravery reminds one much of a certain 
little boy who said " he would like to look in at a 
gate and see a battle." The sport, if such it can 
be called, is cruel, and perhaps degrading; and it 
is possible that, with a more advanced state of 
civilisation, it would, like the less cruel sports of 



A PORTUGUESE BULL-FIGHT. 



153 



cock-fighting and bull-baiting in England, cease to 
find admirers. 

Although out of date, it is perhaps not out of 
place here to describe a Portuguese bull- fight, 
which we afterwards witnessed at Lisbon. 

The amphitheatre there is about one-half the 
size of that of Seville, but, being more closely 
seated, it holds a large number of spectators. On 
this occasion there might have been 10,000 per- 
sons present. The building is entirely of wood, 
and is a rough affair. The people seem enthu- 
siastic in their appreciation of the sport. Thirteen 
bulls were advertised to be brought forward. 

The amphitheatre was crowded half an hour 
before the. opening of the ceremony; and, as in 
other countries, the boys, in what represents the 
pit in a theatre, are very impatient, and shout 
picador, &c, &c. All the actors, or those to be 
engaged in the sport, marched in procession at 
the appointed hour, a quarter before five o'clock 
in the evening. This procession consisted of four 
men on horseback, four chulos, eight men dressed 
in yellow buckskin breeches and red flannel 
shirt and caps, called forzadors, and two men 
who threw the barbed darts, called bandorilleros 



154 A PORTUGUESE BULL-FIGHT. 



— all these entered ceremoniously, and stood in as 
imposing order as possible. Then entered Don 
Basilio, the principal and celebrated horseman. 
He is a fine-looking man, of sixty years of age, and 
was dressed in a court suit and cocked hat. He 
was mounted on a fine powerful dark-brown horse, 
upon which he passaged and capered around the 
arena. He was received with repeated bursts of 
admiration, and bowed graciously to the assembled 
multitude. The Portuguese staff for the bull fight, 
although individually well dressed, was very in- 
ferior to that of Seville. The bull-fight also differs 
from that of Spain. In the first place, the bull, 
though sometimes roughly handled, is never put to 
death. When completely baffled, and too much 
beaten or exhausted to afford any more sport, a 
small herd of eight or ten work-oxen are driven 
into the arena, and he is readily induced to accom- 
pany them off the stage : and, secondly, the bull 
always has his horns muffled; in this state, the 
horns appear nearly as thick at the points as at 
the roots. We had observed that when an ox is 
being shod in Spain, he is driven into a narrow 
space between two walls, where a beam of wood is 
passed through in front of his chest, another be- 



A PORTUGUESE BULL-FIGHT. 155 



hind his horns, and a third behind his tail; after 
which his leg is tied^up, so that the farrier can per- 
form with ease and safety. We doubt not but that 
by some such process the bull is muffled, and is 
rendered comparatively harmless. By this means 
the spectators are spared the revolting scenes of 
blood and gore and disembowelled horses ; and 
as the bull is never put to death, a Portuguese 
bull-fight is a much less sanguinary affair than that 
of Spain. 

From where we sat we had a view of the bulls 
as they were brought forward, ready for the open- 
ing of a small door to burst forth and meet their 
opponents. We saw that they were severely 
goaded, through a hole in the roof of this passage, 
to rouse them, and make them rush forward as 
soon as released. Only about one-third of the 
bulls were of large size, and all of them were black 
except one, which was brindled, and had a white 
face like a Herefordshire ox. The finest bulls 
were brought forward first. As soon as the bull 
rushed into the arena, the old man, Don Basilio, - 
in a cocked-hat, white waistcoat, and jack-boots, 
lance in hand, on his magnificent horse, charged 
past him, and round him, on which the bull imme- 



156 



A PORTUGUESE BULL-FIGHT. 



diately showed fight, and rushed furiously after 
the horse, but was gallantly speared in the neck 
by the rider, and turned in fiis course. The bull 
then rushed at the nearest chulo ; and, after 
several unsuccessful charges, was again met by 
the gallant Basilio, who broke half-a-dozen spears 
on his neck as the bull endeavoured to gore the 
horse. These charges of Don Basilio's exceeded 
in interest and excitement anything in the Span- 
ish bull-fight, although, in respect of dress, the 
Spanish is the more gorgeous and imposing scene. 
The lance Don Basilio used on this occasion was 
about eight feet long. After he had fought this 
bull manfully, he retired, and only returned once 
again, on a different steed, to accomplish his 
greatest feat — namely, to plant a short spear of 
three feet long in the bull's neck. 

The chulos and bandorilleros wore out and 
fatigued the rest of the bulls, and as each of these 
got exhausted, the forzadors, dressed in yellow 
buckskin and red caps, came forward courting a 
charge of the bull ; and when any one could not 
conveniently escape, he threw himself between the 
bull's horns, hugging his neck, when his compa- 
nions seized his horns, and the weight of three 



SPANISH SPOBTS. 



157 



men on his head, two or three on his back, 
and one or two holding on by his tail, rendered 
the bull harmless. This taking the bull by the 
horns was altogether most ridiculous. Very fre- 
quently one of these men would drop on his knees 
right in front of the bull, and when the furious 
beast charged at him, he threw himself so flat on 
the ground that the bull charged over him. On 
one occasion the man was tossed, but not much 
injured ; and he immediately made it a plea for 
going round with his cap and soliciting money 
from the spectators, w r ho seemed to give freely. 
The last scene with each bull, previous to being 
driven out of the arena w 7 ith the work-oxen, was 
his being overpowered by the forzadors. 

The following is the description of another 
Spanish fete, from reliable information : — Once 
every year, at the fair at Puerto Santa Maria, 
near Cadiz, a savage bull is turned loose in the 
streets with a long cord fastened round his head 
and trailing along the ground. Whenever he 
rushes at a person, he makes his escape by jump- 
ing up on to one of the windows, which are 
a few feet from the ground : the crowd behind 
the bull then pull at the cord and turn him. A 



158 



SPANISH CRUELTY. 



gentleman was following in the crowd last year, 
when the bull rushed down the street till it came 
to a cross-street. Here the chances were he would 
take one of the three roads in front of him ; but 
suddenly wheeling round, he rushed at the mob 
behind him, and tossed and killed one unfortunate 
man on the spot. Sickened at this sight, the 
gentleman left the scene of the disaster and re- 
tired to his hotel, only to be still more horrified 
by a Spaniard's coming in and coolly telling a 
friend what capital sport they had had, — how 
well the bull had behaved — that he had killed 
another man. This was considered quite an 
ordinary event, as one or two men at least are 
killed every year. 

Those who leave Seville to proceed to Madrid 
pass through Cordova, but are obliged to take a 
through ticket by the railway and diligence, which 
allows them no time to stop at Cordova. It is 
impossible to see the wonderful cathedral without 
arranging to remain a few hours for that purpose. 
It might be advisable, after taking a through 
ticket to Madrid, to start by an earlier train, and 
so have an hour or two in advance at Cordova. 
For example, the diligence train starts at 2 p.m. 



ROUTES TO MADRID. 



159 



from Seville, and there is also a train at 8 a.m., 
which would allow some hours to see Cordova 
and dine before the diligence comes up. 

There are five or six coaching companies be- 
tween Seville, Cordova, and Madrid ; some of 
them are said to be bad and ill-served. The 
Compania del Norte y Mediodia is perhaps the 
most punctual and well-regulated, but the Cordo- 
vesa is also very good. Each company stops at 
different fondas in the large towns, but, as a 
general rule, the Norte y Mediodia stops at the 
best. The diligence leaves Cordova at 7 p.m., and 
arrives at Andujar at 9 a.m. the following morn- 
ing. Passengers breakfast here, and proceed to 
Bailen, after which the road ascends the hills of 
the Sierra Morena to the town of Santa Catalina, 
which place is reached at half-past 3 p.m., and 
here passengers dine, and go on to Val de Peiias, 
arriving there in the middle of the night, and 
proceeding to Manzanares, where they arrive at 6 
a.m. Here the diligence meets the railway for 
Madrid, which takes four hours more. The jour- 
ney from Seville to Madrid occupies forty hours. 
At the station of Castillejo, on this line, is a 
branch railway to Toledo ; but as the hotels are 



160 



CATHEDEAL OF COEDOVA. 



bad there, it is better to visit it from Madrid. It 
takes four hours by rail from that city to Toledo, 
and there are trains that will suit to take passen- 
gers back to Madrid in the evening. 

Those who travel from Seville to Cadiz and 
return to England by steam, should not omit, 
before leaving Seville, to visit Cordova by rail. 
The fare is eleven shillings, and it is only a day's 
excursion to go by the morning train and return 
by that of the afternoon. There is, however, a • 
very good hotel at Cordova — the Fonda Rezzi — 
the landlord of which is civil and obliging. 

The cathedral is unique, and, in the words of 
an American traveller whom we met, " very queer 
indeed/' It is an old Moorish mosque, very much 
in its original state ; there are innumerable horse- 
shoe arches, and 854 marble pillars, which sup- 
port a low roof. This mosque was originally 
lighted, in the time of the Moors, by thousands 
of lamps which w T ere kept burning day and night, 
and no sunlight was admitted. This must have 
had a very imposing effect. The Christians, how- 
ever, upraised eight domes or cupolas, by which 
it is now lighted. The small chapel, which was 
originally the "shihrab," or sanctuary for the 



THE GUADALQUIVIR. 



161 



Koran, is very magnificently ornamented with 
costly mosaics. As the Moorish pilgrims entered 
this sanctuary and passed round the Koran, which 
was suspended from the centre of the roof, they 
moved sideways, always keeping their faces to- 
wards the Koran. These pilgrims were so numer- 
ous that the multitudes who have passed round 
barefooted have worn a deep hollow in the marble 
, pavement. There is a great deal that is most in- 
teresting in this wonderful mosque : the numerous 
pillars, all bearing different characters (and on 
some of which the carving is very singular), re- 
quire some hours to examine and to see tho- 
roughly. 

Th.ere is a fine old Roman bridge across the 
Guadalquivir. It is far from being a grand city, 
but it is old and interesting, and there are the 
mansions of many aristocratic families in it ; so 
much so, that the Spaniards say, " It is the most 
respectable city in Spain to be born in, though 
not the most agreeable to live in." The country 
between Seville and Cordova is in some places 
picturesque. The Guadalquivir, which has a name 
familiar in romance, is at this part of its course a 
muddy and uninteresting stream. Before leaving 

L 



162 THE INFANTA AND HER HUSBAND. 

Seville we ought to remark that the people seem 
generally loyal, and they respect and are suffi- 
ciently contented with their Queen and her govern- 
ment, and more particularly with the administra- 
tion of affairs by her present Prime Minister, 
OT)onnel. We have mentioned that the Infanta 
(the Queen's sister), with her husband, the Duke 
of Montpensier, preside at the principal fetes here. 
The people say the Infanta is more talented and 
estimable than her sister. The Infanta and her 
husband identify themselves much with the people, 
and are deservedly popular. Whether justly or 
not, the Queen-Mother Christina seems to have 
been made a scape-goat, and to have carried away 
with her all the disloyalty of the people, and the 
disreputable character of her court. We men- 
tioned to a Spaniard that a place of honour had 
been reserved for her in Rome, by the side of the 
Pope. " Ah ! well/' replied she, " he may keep 
a place for her in Rome, but he cannot keep a 
place for her in heaven. When she dies she will 
go straight to the devil — I know that/' 



AKR1VAL AT LISBON. 



163 



CHAPTER VIII. 



We left Seville at 8 a.m., and arrived at Cadiz 
at half-past 12 o'clock. We had some difficulty 
in getting our passports signed in time to sail by 
the French steamer for Lisbon, which was to sail 
at 4 p.m. These steamers are small, but tolerably 
well appointed. The fares are exceedingly high — 
for this voyage of thirty-six hours we paid £3, 
16s. for each ticket. We sailed up the river 
Tagus on a fine spring morning ; the banks are 
undulating, green, and rather low ; the prospect, 
on the whole, was English. On coming near the 
city of Lisbon, we found it a long straggling town, 
on the slope of a hill about 300 feet high. This 
is intersected by several valleys or ravines. Some 
of the buildings are large and massive. It is a 
fatiguing town to walk or drive through, on ac- 
count of the continual ascents and descents. 
There are several public gardens throughout the 



164 CUSTOM-HOUSE ARRANGEMENTS. 



town, none of which are large enough to be im- 
posing. The city is completely defenceless from 
the sea, and quite at the mercy of a dominant 
maritime power. The Portuguese do not feel as 
kindly towards us as they ought to do, for our 
alliance and protection. They are very apt to 
say, " It is as convenient for England and her 
trade to extend this protection, as it is for us to 
receive it." 

Before landing, we were visited by customhouse 
boats and sanitary officers, in all, fifty-three men, 
while, to the best of our knowledge, there was not 
fifty-three shillings' worth of cargo landed from 
our French steamer. We w T ere told at another 
time that one of the evils and causes of the ineffi- 
ciency of their customhouse proceeded from the 
number of officials ; that where six active men 
could do the work w r ell, and be w r ell paid, Portu- 
guese patronage was so valuable that they pre- 
ferred dividing the emolument amongst forty 
inefficient officials. 

We went to the Braganza Hotel, which is in a 
good situation, and, barring a few cockroaches, 
we were verv comfortable. The bread in Portu- 
gal is very inferior to that of Spain ; there are, 



VESTIGES OF THE EARTHQUAKE. 165 

however, several English luxuries to be met with 
here, on account of the shortness of the voyage to 
England. 

There are still some vestiges of the dreadful 
earthquake. In the centre of the city is the 
ruin of a church destroyed at that fearful time. 
The roof is completely gone, and the walls, 
although standing, are in many places cracked. 
The gables still stand, with a part of the fine 
old windows, which are in a very shattered state. 
At one place there are evident marks of fire. 
There are still some blue and white porcelain 
tiles adhering to the walls. The cloisters are 
made into cavalry barracks ; a Portuguese officer 
showed us through tliem. The horses were in 
good order, and there were some handsome 
animals amongst them. We saw the cloister- 
garden, which must once have been most pro- 
ductive, as there were the remains of a fine col- 
lection of fruit-trees ; now it is much overgrown 
with shrubs. In one of the warm corners there 
was a very fine Japan medlar-tree covered with 
yellow fruit the size of a very large plum. We were 
presented with some, and we found the flavour 
very pleasant — a sharp refreshing acid. 



166 MOSAICS EST ST KOQUE. 

In the Chapel of St Roque there are magnifi- 
cent mosaics. The altar of this rich chapel is of 
amethyst and lapis lazuli. There are also eight 
columns of lapis lazuli. The three pictures in 
the finest mosaic are very beautiful, and resem- 
ble the most finished paintings. The one over 
the altar, of St John baptising our Saviour, 
is after Michael Angelo. At the sides of the 
chapel are the Annunciation, after Guido, in 
which the robe of the Virgin is of a singular 
and lovely purple ; and the Descent from the 
Cross, after Raphael Urbino. The frames of 
these pictures are of a warm-coloured grey mar- 
ble. Fifteen years were spent on these works of 
art. This chapel was placed, in 1744, in St 
Peter's at Rome. Benedict XIV. consecrated it, 
after which it was taken down and conveyed to 
Portugal by Don John V. in 1746, and placed in 
the Church of San Roque. There are two magni- 
ficent candelabra of bronze, and partly gilt ; these 
stand on the step going up to the altar, one at 
each side. There are also three elegant lamps 
suspended from the roof of the chapel. The 
church is at present under repair, but there is 
not much to see in it. 



FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 



167 



Adjoining, and under the same roof, is the 
Cuna, or Foundling Hospital. It is not quite on 
the same principle as those at Seville and Valencia, 
in Spain. It is not only for foundlings, but for 
the children of parents who are unable to support 
them at home ; at all events, they are allowed to 
take advantage of the charity. On the day on 
which we were there we saw eighteen women in 
a room set apart for the purpose, nursing their 
children for the last time, and waiting for the 
opening of the cradle-box through which they 
were to pass their respective children into the 
institution. It was a sad and degrading sight. 
The women looked apathetic and unmdved. One 
child, about two years of age, dressed in deep 
mourning, was leaning against a respectably 
dressed woman, and was sobbing most bitterly. 
We hoped the woman was not its mother, as she 
looked so calm and composed ; and she did not 
even try to soothe the child, who appeared aware 
of its fate. They told us there were sometimes as 
many as sixty infants admitted in one day : many 
were sent in from the country towns and villages. 

Three miles down the river, at the outside of 
the city of Lisbon, stands Belem Church. It was 



168 



BELEM CHUBCH. 



built by Don Manuel in 1500, in gratitude for 
the success of Vasca de Gamos's expedition. 
The interior of this church is a marvel of beauty, 
and of a peculiar style of architecture. You 
enter by a fine doorway at the west, and under 
low vaulted arches for two bays ; it then opens 
out to its full height. The two centre pillars on 
each side are small and light, of pure white mar- 
ble, elaborately carved ; and these are of great 
height, and support the roof. One great pecu- 
liarity is, that the aisles, being of the same 
height as the nave, the arches of both these and 
the transepts are also of the same height, reach- 
ing to the very roof of the church. Two fine 
marble pulpits are placed at each side of the 
chancel ; two more modern have been erected 
against the two side pillars, which are also elabo- 
rately and beautifully carved ; the steps leading 
up to them are of different coloured marble. A 
modern chancel has been added in bad taste. 
The sacristja, which is about thirty feet square, 
has a vaulted roof, the centre of which is sup- 
ported by a thin pillar rising out of a fountain. 
The tying of the roof in it and in the church 
is admirable. There is the appearance of a 



PORTUGUESE CHURCHES. 



169 



double-organ ; but the pipes of it have been sold, 
and a cabinet-sized organ placed within for use. 
The Portuguese churches have not the large 
wooden choirs in the centre as in Spain, so that 
the whole is seen at one glance * and it has a 
much more noble appearance. We also, in Por- 
tugal, invariably found low altar-railings instead 
of the high and often handsome bronze or iron 
gates or rejas. They have a considerable space 
boarded over, and raised a few inches from the 
ground in front of the altar. Our guide told 
us it was for the ladies only to kneel upon, 
and no men are allowed to go there. There 
were eight doors of dark wood at the left 
side of the church, which are confessionals for 
the women. The men's confessionals are in a 
different part of the church. The cloisters are 
very rich, in the same ornate style. There are 
two tiers of arches ; the lower are divided by 
three pillars, the centre one of which is twice as 
thick as the side ones. They are all richly and 
differently ornamented. The square of the cloister 
is peculiar ; the four angles are all cut off and 
arched over. There are the remains of a small 
chapel, but the roof is quite gone. 



170 



MODERN AQUEDUCT. 



The modern aqueduct in the highest part of 
the city is the grand work of a Portuguese noble- 
man one hundred and fifty years back. The 
water is conveyed from near Cintra through an 
aqueduct in which there are two ducts, in order 
that if one is out of order, the water may be 
shifted to the opposite, to admit of either side 
being repaired. It is arched over, and sufficiently 
high to permit a man to walk up between the 
two ducts and keep them in order. The tank 
is sixty feet deep, and the water is clear and 
green. This supplies the numerous fountains in 
Lisbon, at which you see hundreds of water- 
carriers and carts with oxen. It is still a great 
loss to the community that there are not pipes 
to convey the water into the houses, as from ten 
to fifty men are hourly employed at all the foun- 
tains carrying water to the neighbouring houses. 
These water-carriers are Gallicians, called here 
Gallegos. 

Before closing our description of Lisbon, we 
are happy to state that the town once so noto- 
rious for the filth of its streets, is now beauti- 
fully clean, paved, and macadamised. The cli- 
mate is mild, but variable, and the vicissitudes 



PRIMITIVE VEHICLES. 



171 



are great. That part of the town called Buenos 
Ayres, where the English generally reside, has 
extensive gardens and agreeable residences ; but 
it is far removed from the centre of the town, 
the markets, &c. There is a large and spacious 
English church, which is well attended, and gene- 
rally full. Around it is a cemetery, with fine 
cypress and other trees in it, flowering shrubs, 
and many rare and beautiful plants. In, this 
cemetery lie the mortal remains of Doddridge 
and several other distinguished men. 

Some of the street carriages are antique and 
unique ; they are lofty, and the shape of an old- 
fashioned sedan chair ; they are fantastically 
gilded and painted. These carriages are perched 
upon the shaft, half-way between the wheels and 
the horse ; they are, however, being fast super- 
seded by comfortable, well-built, light carriages. 

Fine oxen move about the streets with primi- 
tive-looking carts, the wheels of which are a solid 
block of wood without spokes, and the axles are 
fixed immovably in the wheels ; the cart is then 
mounted upon this, and secured by two hoops, 
in such a manner that, as the cart moves forward, 
the axle and the two wheels all move round to- 



172 RAILWAYS AND EOADS. 



gether with a creaking noise that can be heard 
half a mile distant. 

Mules are a good deal used here, as in Spain; 
notwithstanding, we could seldom see a handsome 
pair in a carriage, and never without one or other 
having broken knees ; whilst it is rare in Spain to 
see a horse with a broken knee. 

One seldom sees a handsome man or woman in 
Portugal ; the women's dress is, however, very 
respectable and neat : a dark cotton or silk dress, 
a black-cloth cloak, and a large square of thin 
white muslin, the size of a handkerchief, doubled, 
and pinned under their chins. 

There are several new railways in course of 
formation throughout Portugal. It is a suffici- 
ently rich country to be exceedingly improved by 
railway traffic ; for some districts are as yet very 
unexplored, for there are very few roads, and 
even the mule-paths are rendered impassable in 
winter after rain. One of the railways in pro- 
gress, and partly open, runs towards Badajos, at 
the south side of the river Tagus ; another is 
open to Santarem, on the line to Coimbra and 
Leiria, on the north side of the river. 

We went to Santarem, about thirty miles dis- 



VISIT TO SANTA REM. 



173 



tant from Lisbon, by rail. We were two hours 
reaching it, and returned the same evening. 
Santarem stands on a high promontory, jutting 
out into the yalley of the Tagus, by which the 
foot of the hill is washed. The view is magni- 
ficent and very extensive. It is a fine military 
position, and was held by Don Miguel as such 
for a long time. There are considerable Moor- 
ish remains here. The Alcazar (or castle) stands 
in a commanding situation, and several of the 
fine old churches have been built on the site of 
mosques. In the present century fourteen mon- 
asteries have been suppressed, and their fine 
churches left to fall into ruins, and in many in- 
stances desecrated and turned into magazines for 
wine and goods of every description. One par- 
ticularly fine church is now used as a hay-loft for 
the cavalry horses ; in it several of the tombs have 
been rifled, and the bones and dust of the dead 
cast on the ground around them ; a beautifully 
carved credence-table will soon share the same 
fate, as they are making a quarry of the grand 
old building, and selling tjie stones for a trifle. 
A Portuguese gentleman told us that the feeling 
was so strong against these monastic establish- 



174 CHAPEL OF STA KITA. 



ments, which had absorbed so much of the youth, 
energy, and the property of the country, that 
most of the inhabitants thought that those who 
assisted in pulling them to pieces were doing the 
State a service. 

The Chapel of Santa Rita or Frangesca is ex- 
ceedingly interesting ; in it is the tomb of Alonso, 
finely carved ; also a part of a singular old monu- 
ment, which for safety has been built into the 
wall ; and also a tomb of the Menezes, of the date 
1147. There are four mosaics in blue and white 
porcelain, representing the Last Supper, the Is- 
raelites passing through the Desert, &c. &c. ; the 
date of these is 1779. They are very singular in 
their design, and in perfect preservation. Near 
the Plaza is the Jesuits' church and college ; at 
the latter two hundred students are at present 
receiving their education. In the chapel are 
some mosaics which are worth seeing, otherwise 
the building is not interesting. The hotel at 
Santarem is, very indifferent, and the streets of 
the town are extremely dirty. 

On our way going to and returning from San- 
tarem, we had a fine view of the hills of Torres 
Vedras, where the Duke of Wellington constructed 



PORTUGUESE NAVVIES. 



those fortifications which defied the French army. 
As we walked around Santarem, a Portuguese 
gentleman pointed out to us the olive-trees 
that spring in several stems from the root of 
those which the French army had cut down to 
light their fires. 

The interior of Portugal is still a very unknown 
country to foreigners. We heard of magnificent 
churches and extensive Roman remains at such 
places as Thomar and Balalka, on the road to 
Leiria, which will now soon be accessible by 
railway. 

We met an Englishman who had been twelve 
years in Spain and Portugal, and who is now 
directing the navvies on the railway which they 
are constructing between Santarem and Leiria, 
about sixty miles north-east of the former. He 
found the inhabitants wild and savage ; but he 
had gained their confidence, and they would obey 
him, and do their work well. He paid them 
Is. 8d. a-day, which was to them great wages. 
His workmen lived frugally ; a sardine and a loaf 
of very indifferent bread served them for a dinner, 
and a cupful of soup, made merely of hot-water 
with bread crumbled into it, and flavoured with 



176 



VISIT TO CINTRA. 



oil and garlic, for their supper. Yet notwith- 
standing this meagre fare, he was astonished at 
the amount of work they would accomplish in a 
day ; and he found them steadier workmen than 
the Spaniards. 

No one goes to Lisbon without visiting Cintra. 
This is a locality so charming in summer, as to 
make people regret that they have ties in other 
parts of the world. On leaving Lisbon there are 
some large villas and gardens in the suburbs j 
soon after, the bare heights of the hills are 
crowded with windmills ; for some miles further, 
the country, although undulating, is bleak and 
uninteresting, with stone-fenced corn-fields, and 
this extends till you approach close to Cintra, 
which is fifteen miles distant from Lisbon. The 
corn-fields were green. The principal weed the 
farmers had to contend with appeared to be the 
pale bright-blue dwarf convolvulus, yellow and 
purple Irises, and a bright purple vetch, which 
grow in every direction. The rock of Lisbon 
and the hill of Cintra rise to a great height 
above the level of the sea. These hills attract 
the clouds and moisture of the Atlantic ; and 
while at Lisbon all is arid and the air oppres- 



MOORISH PALACE. 



177 



siye, there are at Cintra the most cool and re- 
freshing breezes, and shade from the fine old 
forest -trees, and many streams and cascades ; 
flowers and myrtles grow in the greatest pro- 
fusion, and "the voice of the nightingale never 
is mute/' In spring and winter Cintra is damp, 
but from this cause it is the more refreshing in 
summer. We were at an excellent hotel here, 
the Victoria. The landlady speaks English ; 
her terms are very moderate, and everything is 
clean, and the food excellent. There are in- 
numerable villas for great and small. All who 
can afford to leave Lisbon in the summer-time 
come out here. Some of the nobility have fine 
palaces and gardens. 

The King of Portugal resides, during the sum- 
mer months, in an old Moorish palace, which is 
more romantic than comfortable. It is kept in 
excellent order, and is at present undergoing some 
alterations. It is in Moorish architecture ; the 
porcelain tiles in it are more raised and coarse 
than usually seen in Spain ; many of them have a 
raised vine-leaf upon them. One large room is 
painted with magpies, another with deer, and a 
third with the arms of all the old Portuguese 

M 



178 



MOORISH REMAINS. 



nobility. Families still bearing these arras are 
those who can boast of the best pedigree in Por- 
tugal. The mosaic floor of the chamber in which 
the lunatic King Alonso was confined by his wdcked 
Queen is still very perfect ; the tiles are worn where 
the unfortunate and restless monarch was chained. 

The chapel, once a mosque, is very interesting ; 
part of the roof is Moorish, the gallery opposite 
the altar is modern. In a large patio there is a 
fine Moorish bath in a recess, completely tiled 
round ; when the water is laid on, it springs from 
innumerable jets in the wall, from the ceiling and 
from the floor, so as to converge and encircle the 
person standing in the centre of the recess. The 
kitchen is very peculiar*; in it are two ranges for 
cooking with charcoal, above each of which there 
is a vast circular chimney, like one of our English 
glass-works, gradually narrowing at the top, and 
rising as high as a factory chimney. These com- 
pletely overtop the whole palace, and we could 
only imagine that they were intended to carr~ )ff 
the fumes of cooking. These chimney u are about 
twenty feet in diameter at the bottom, and two 
feet at the top ; these produced a most extra- 
ordinary echo of any noise made in the kitchen. 



THE PE1STA PALACE. 



179 



There are many rides and drives around C intra; 
that to Colares, famous for its wine, is about four 
miles, and that to the Pena palace, the summer 
residence of the King's father, is about an hour s 
*ride. The palace is on the summit of a high hill 
overlooking Cintra; the road to it is very steep, 
and winds up the hill-side, through pine, brush- 
wood, and shrubs. You enter the palace by a 
gallery of arches which are cut out of the solid 
rock. The drawbridge is modern, built in 1840. 
Near this stands a very ancient cross of the time of 
Don Juan XIII. and his wife Donna Catalina. 
It was removed from the chapel on the summit of 
the hill by Don Manuel, who built the present 
palace, and who placed this cross on the huge 
boulder-stone at its entrance. The view from this 
palace is very extensive, overlooking the rock of 
Lisbon and the Atlantic to the west ; the mouth of 
the river Tagus, and its yellow sandy beach, to the 
south • and to the east and north, the city of Lisbon, 
tJ " hills of Torres Vedras, and the enormous 
palace ol Mafra, which rises out of a flat green 
plain, and is about eighteen miles distant. The 
Pena palace is of Moorish architecture ; it has of 
late years been much restored, and is still under- 



180 



MONSERRAT. 



going alterations. The rooms in it are numerous ; 
one suite is comfortably furnished for present use. 
The chapel has an alabaster altar, above which, 
on a circular block of solid alabaster, which turns 
upon a pivot, are carved representations of the life 
of Christ. Although the road up to the Pena is so 
steep, the grounds around it are full of ravines and 
valleys, well wooded with forest-trees and shrubs, 
and ornamented with gardens and sheets of water. 

There is a place called Monserrat, two miles 
from Cintra, the property of an English gentle- 
man, which has great natural beauty, and is also 
laid out with great taste. There are extensive 
cork-woods around it; the garden is well watered; 
and there is a very valuable collection of tropical 
plants, ferns, and pines. The goa-pine is here a 
noble tree ; its foliage is of a rich dark-green ; and 
forms a striking contrast to the grey tint of the 
cork and olive trees around it. 

On May the 7th, we embarked in a Peninsular 
and Oriental steamer for Southampton. In going 
down the river Tagus we passed the palace and 
church of Belem ; a little beyond them a Moor- 
ish castle and a lighthouse, which have lately 
been put into excellent repair. The mouth of 



DEPARTURE FROM LISBON. 



181 



the river is commanded by fort St Julien, an 
old fortress. Soon after, we passed the rock of 
Lisbon and the heights of Cintra ; the former 
rather projects out into the sea. Then we came 
in sight of Mafra, at the foot of the hills of Torres 
Vedras. A little further on, there is the singular 
isolated rock of Peneike, standing out of the sea 
like a castle ; it was covered with innumerable 
sea-birds. The coast is low, and there is no object 
of great interest till you arrive near Oporto, which 
we unfortunately reached in the night, only re- 
maining a few hours to take in passengers and 
merchandise, and leaving before sunrise. The 
next day, about one o'clock, we approached the 
picturesque and beautiful coast near Vigo, and 
soon after entered the bay, which is like a lake, 
being completely land-locked to the west by the 
rugged Bayona islands, which rise to a consider- 
able height. It is a sheltered spot, and said to be 
a very fine climate. 

The town of Vigo rises in terraces from the 
sea, and is surrounded by hills covered with ver- 
dure. This place would be a near and charming 
sanatorium for delicate people, if there was any 
accommodation for strangers, which there is not 



182 



SPANISH BIGOTRY. 



as yet; add to this that, in the most favoured parts 
of Spain, our countrymen meet with no favour or 
toleration from the miserable antiquated Govern- 
ment, or from the jealous and bigoted Church, 
which does not possess even the esteem or affec- 
tion of its own people. An Englishman is neither 
allowed to worship his Creator while he lives, nor 
permitted a Christian burial in case of his death 
in their country. We knew an instance of a most 
estimable man who shared a very large fortune 
with the poor during his life, and when he died 
they said, " What a pity that so good a man could 
not go to heaven !" The Spaniards, like the Chi- 
nese, talk of their country as if their Government, 
and everything pertaining to it, was celestial, and 
we, and the rest of the world, as compared with 
them, barbarians! Do they not deserve to be 
taught the same lesson we taught the Chinese 
lately? We do not wish that they should suffer 
at our hands, or indeed at any other hands, but 
is Spain always safe from France or America? 
When she accumulates more wealth, will she be 
safer from France on the one hand, or is Cuba 
safe from America on the other % Spain is surely 
not in a position to despise our sympathy ; but the 



CURIOUS SHIPMENT. 



183 



Spaniards, like the Chinese, do despise those who 
have not the power or the spirit to command 
respect. When will our Government demand that 
our church and creed shall be treated with the 
same respect and toleration in Spain that we 
accord to theirs in England % Before leaving Vigo, 
we shipped a very curious part of our cargo — 
namely, 400,000 fresh eggs for the English market. 
Early potatoes and other vegetables, pears, straw- 
berries, and other fruit, are brought in large 
quantities from Lisbon and Vigo. We had straw- 
berries daily at Lisbon in April, and green peas 
were very abundant. 

We sailed out of the Bay of Vigo in the after- 
noon, and soon after prepared for the Bay of 
Biscay. We hoped that good fortune would attend 
us ; but iEolus, who controls the winds with im- 
perial sway, had resolved to give us a bit of a tiff. 
We had a strong head- wind for two days. It was 
a very disagreeable time. Some of the passengers 
suffered more than we did, but red eyes and yellow 
cheeks were marked features amongst us. Instead 
of being five days at sea, we were six and a-half. 
Those vessels that ply between Lisbon and South- 
ampton are the slowest and smallest of the Penin- 



184 



HOME. 



sular and Oriental Company's boats. We met 
with much civility on board ; the fare was abun- 
dant. We landed at eight o'clock on Sunday 
evening at Southampton, where we were very 
comfortable at Radley's Hotel. Next morning 
we proceeded to London, and were amused by 
having Waterloo stuck on each of our boxes. We 
hope that, out of politeness to our Gallic neigh- 
bours who may land here, the directors have a 
different label to put upon their effects. It was the 
first burst of summer, and after the wilds of Spain 
we were much struck with the beautiful garden- 
like cultivation and the fine forest -trees of the 
country. Soon after mid-day we arrived in Lon- 
don. No waste of time or life here. Assisted by 
energetic and active porters and policemen, in five 
minutes our luggage was all on the top of a couple 
of cabs. We were seated within, the doors were 
banged, and in a very short time, by the blessing 
of Almighty God, we were safe in the arms of 
those we loved dearly. 



PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. 



